Silver Snuffbox Gilding and Corrosion.

Snuff Accessories
1

I have my eye on a small silver snuffbox in an antique shop.  It is reasonably priced, has no engraving on it but is nicely gilded inside.

I have seen a lot of boxes with lovely well preserved exteriors but blackened and damaged interior gilding.

I was wondering if the gilding in snuff boxes would stand up to the black and brown rappees that I like or would the salt and ammonia contents of the rappees corrode the gilding ?

Does anyone have any experience of this sort of thing?

I have never bought a silver box before and would like to know the pitfalls that are lurking for the unwary.

2

Gold doesnt oxidize so if its gilded inside it should be good for even the moistest snuffs, my 2 silver boxes are both gilded inside I wouldnt want to put moist snuffs in a metal box that wasnt gilded or gold plated inside.

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