The other day I got myself into a fit of ebay madness and picked up these three boxes. The first seems to be a silver plate, the listing didn’t mention any markings or provide a decent picture of the hinge. I liked the looks of it, so I threw my money at them anyhow. The second is listed as made of bovine horn. Obviously some kind of wood on the third. I believe the metal box is the largest, at appox. 3.25 inches wide.
The silver toned and horn boxes were listed as 19th century victorian. I’m pretty wary of these reports, but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts. Anything you can offer regarding authenticity or practical usage as a snuff box would be greatly appreciated.
I haven’t received them yet and can make no reports on their ability to hold snuff or amount of leakage.
Very nice start of a collection, the horn box leave at home. fragile! and keep it waxed. the silver one looks like brass not bad will hold up and take abuse.The wooden one it looks like some damage at right hinge.wax the sides of the lid and add a piece of clear tape to the closing lip of the lid for tight fit.
Try blowing air though around lids if they leak only fill one or two days of snuff. If tight fill them up. And let me know when you will be bidding so I don’t.
Thanks for the great info! What kind of wax should I be putting on them? It was my first experience actually bidding (I’ve always just gone for the buy now option) and I must admit I got a little upset on the first auction I lost lol. I’ll have some better info and update when I actually receive them.
Nice variety. The only ones with which I have any experience are the wooden ones, and that looks like a pretty good one. basement_shaman suggests pipe wax, I think, to improve the seal. Natural wax furniture polish (not the spray-on stuff) will keep the outside looking good. Have fun with them!
As @sloth said pipe wax I use paragon wax. If possible heat the wooden box up, a hair dryer will work; this will do two things ,open up the end grain and absorb the wax fast and expand the seal. Any natural wax- surf board,pipe, butchers,bee’s.
So, I got the wood box in today and it looks great… Except for the slight damage at the right hinge that @basement_shaman pointed out. Theres actually a chip in the wood on the inside, underneath the right side of the hinge, this is letting the lid slip around a tiny bit and sometimes the box wont close all the way unless I push it down… Thinking I might be able to stick it down with some super glue…
EDIT: I went ahead with the glue and now it closes just fine. After further testing, however, I found that there is a seam along the bottom side of the hinge that leaks like a sieve… Dang it! I really want to use this box…
If you get a acetone base wood filler you can put it over the seam and fill the voids.And carefully sand the repair with 150.180 and 220 grit paper… Then you can stain it to match; light it on fire this will burn off the petroleum of the stain and dry it at the same time.them if possible buff it then wax it. if just repairing the inside sand smooth then wax if the coloring is not important to you. Kill two birds with one stone use a color crayon or brown shoe polish. And use a heat gun or blow dryer to set it. Polish with rag or extra soft tooth brush. A permanent maker could work to stain then seal with wax. Good luck
PS. don’t use wood puddy it will never dry.It may be possible to get a colored wood filler
AHA! Brilliant, sir! As luck would have it, I had some wood filler handy. Applied it into the gap with a tooth pick and smeared some hot brown shoe polish over it with a q-tip and voila! The filler was “natural” colored, but with the brown polish it looks pretty good. Thanks a bunch!
Got the metal box in today (I was hoping in would be sitting in my mailbox next to my Mr. Snuff order, but alas, not yet…)
The metal is pretty thick and the box has a nice heft to it. The hinge is great, no leaks. The rest of the seal is very decent-- only leaking if I shake the box pretty violently. The lid did not close tightly though, and would fall open if turned over… but a little strip of duct tape along the front lip of the lid worked magic. Very pleased and not a bad pick up for $20.
But I’ve still got a question for you folks:
The inside of the box has some kind of gold wash, but there is some of that green crusty crap forming around the edges and in one corner of the box. Should I try to clean it off or just leave it that way?
@Scurvy -Take that crap off, it is copper. clean the box with a salt and white vinegar mixture or with salt and lemon , make a paste or boil it on the stove .let the paste dry polish off then rinse, boil method rinse and dry with cloth then hair dryer. then seal with bee wax,and heat up hinge to get the wax on the hinge pin; keeps it from rusting and lubes it same time.
@Scurvy - many old silver boxes had a gilt wash inside - if the box is silver it is definitely not copper and you wouldn’t want to be removing it. If it is silver plate it could be a Sheffield plate box, which were silver on copper. These are very collectable and, again, go easy on any cleaning. I would give it a gentle clean to the point of making it useable again but nothing harsher than a silver cleaning cloth. I wouldn’t be boiling or heating any antique box, unless you want to ruin it.
@Snuffster there are several places where the silver is worn away and it appears to be brass underneath. One thing I found strange, though, is that there are no markings anywhere on the box… except for some initials engraved on the lid which I can hardly make out.
I remember reading a bit on Sheffield plate and that it was basically sheets of silver wrapped around another metal object, that would create a seam where the two ends of the silver meet…? This box has a partial seam across the back side, but is appears to match with a seam in the base metal that goes all the way around the inside of the box.
I love antiques and would love to be able to accurately date this item… But I still think it’s neat whether it’s 2 or 200 years old.
It seems very likely to be Sheffield plate from your description. I’m afraid without a recognisable makers mark or company stamp you are left with dating by type and style. Plating was developed as a process around 1742 and Sheffield plate came in shortly after that - Sheffield being a major centre for cutlery and pewter ware and there were literally dozens of firms making all kinds of plated items - a good percentage of which will have left no researchable trace of themselves. In the absence of any provenance you can only work on those facts, plus wear and tear - but even that is next to useless because you could have a very old box that was never used much and lived in a drawer for most of it’s ‘life’ or a more recent box that was used on a daily basis, both circumstances capable of giving the same appearance. True Sheffield plate is silver on copper. If it was mine, and I was going to use it rather than display it, I would buy an impregnated silver cloth and just give it a light polish, sufficient enough to remove any kind of deposit on the metal.
Bear in mind that If you are looking at silver through the gold wash, as it were, it probably is silver - there are lots of silver snuff boxes without hallmarks - it will be plate if the silver has worn away leaving the copper colour. The deposit could be anything. Whatever, it’s a fine little piece.
I would be ecstatic if I managed to pick up something so collectable on my first venture into snuff boxes… but I’m pretty skeptical that I’m that lucky. It’s difficult to describe in perfect detail and I wish I had some better pictures to offer… but here are a couple more from the seller…
Underneath that green bit in the corner is yellow metal like the wear spot in the second picture, only very dull. There is also a seam that goes all the way around the inside of the box, separating the top and bottom halves.
I would say it’s plated copper, the small patch of wear gives it away. Whether it’s Sheffield in the strictest sense is impossible to say, but it is certainly plate-ware and a beautiful snuff box under any circumstances. I would get to work, gently, on the deposit with a q tip and plenty of patience. Congrats on a very nice item.
