Throughout a flowery celebration at a rich host’s house within the 18th century, there would have been an ornate field manufactured from gold and embellished with treasured gems sitting on a desk. Friends would have flocked round it, not solely to admire its magnificence, however to dip into it, taking a pinch of floor tobacco to “snuff” into their noses.
Snorting floor tobacco was as soon as a trendy behavior favored by each women and men of all courses, but it surely was solely the uber-wealthy who might afford to retailer it in a luxurious snuff field.
Although that behavior has largely gone out of favor, the intricately designed vintage snuff packing containers are prized by collectors for his or her elegant aesthetics and historic significance.
THE RISE OF SNUFF CULTURE
First imported from the Americas to Europe within the 1500s, tobacco was touted for its medicinal properties, which have been believed to remedy colds, complications, and different illnesses. By the 1600s, inhaling finely floor tobacco via the nostril—“snuffing”—had grow to be a widespread leisure luxurious to not solely “remedy” any ills but additionally preventatively ward them off. Carrying snuff was as widespread as toting round a mobile phone.
Regardless of inflicting sneezing suits and nasal dripping, the behavior flourished, significantly amongst royalty. Napoleon Bonaparte reportedly snorted it like a rock star. A gold snuff field of his bought at Bonham’s in 2021 for £69,000 (round $91,000).
There have been makes an attempt to ban tobacco, with authorities like Pope City VII threatening to excommunicate snuff-takers and Tsar Michael 1 of Russia saying they need to have their noses minimize off. These threats didn’t deter snuffing from rising in popularity than ever.
In the course of the 18th-century reign of Queen Charlotte, spouse of King George III, the behavior had developed right into a shared pastime, with folks gathering to snuff collectively and share varied tobacco blends, typically that includes scents of flowers, fruit, and spices. The queen believed snuff helped her complications and was such a devotee that she was nicknamed “Snuffy Charlotte.”
Taking a pinch of snuff wasn’t nearly getting a fast hit of nicotine. The rituals round snuffing indicated an individual’s social rank and elegance by how neatly they may extract a pinch and the way gracefully they may sniff it.
As with different imported luxurious items, resembling sugar and tea, tobacco ultimately grew to become accessible to the remainder of the courses. Even a farm employee seemingly stored a pinch of snuff in a small picket field in his pocket.
Snuffing declined within the early nineteenth century, as cigars grew to become extra accessible and the favored type for getting a nicotine repair.
SNUFF BOXES BECOME STATUS SYMBOLS
On the top of the snuffing craze, virtually as vital (if no more vital) as the bottom tobacco itself was the receptacle it was carried round in, and snuff packing containers, made by a few of the most interesting craftsmen of their day, grew to become status-elevating and coveted equipment.
For the aristocracy and higher courses, totally different snuff packing containers have been required for various events, seasons, and even outfits. Snuff was so ingrained in Europe’s social tradition that, every season, retailers marketed new kinds of packing containers, simply as they did for the most recent kinds of attire and sneakers.
Private-use packing containers would maintain a day’s price of powder for the common sniffer and have been often sufficiently small to suit inside a pocket. There have been additionally larger table-top packing containers made to carry bigger portions of snuff for events and different social occasions.
Within the seventeenth century, snuff packing containers have been initially manufactured from carved wooden, iron, ivory, or silver. By the mid-18th century, gold snuff packing containers specifically grew to become the peak of useful style—nothing confirmed off how rich you have been like brandishing a gold snuff field dripping in diamonds.
Many snuff packing containers from the 18th and nineteenth centuries mirrored the artwork and tradition of the time, typically that includes allegorical scenes, floral motifs, or detailed portraits, and have been regularly personalized to replicate the proprietor’s persona. Some snuff packing containers additionally featured extra musical components for leisure, resembling singing fowl automatons.
As snuff-taking trickled right down to the center and decrease courses, snuff packing containers have been manufactured from ceramic, horn, papier-mâché, and a variety of different reasonably priced supplies.
COLLECTING SNUFF BOXES
Since snuffing was in vogue for over two centuries amongst each the the Aristocracy and the working courses, collectors can discover a huge array of snuff packing containers in a various vary of supplies to swimsuit all tastes and budgets, from round $20 to tens of 1000’s of {dollars}.
The decorations additionally fluctuate as broadly because the supplies used to craft them. Containers will be discovered adorned with ornate patterns, unique landscapes, vignettes, and portraits. Since they have been coveted luxurious objects, the extra advanced a field, the higher, and plenty of collectors search these with mechanical components, like connected music packing containers and watches. Though an oblong form is the commonest, snuff packing containers have been typically customary into different kinds, together with animals, clocks, figures, hats, and even walnuts.
Probably the most prized and dear snuff packing containers are the high-quality luxurious examples crafted from gold or silver, typically embellished with treasured and semi-precious stones and different supplies, resembling ivory, porcelain, rock crystal, tortoiseshell, or different semi-precious hardstones. Containers with intricate engraving and distinctive approach work, resembling guilloché enamel or repoussé metalwork, additionally enchantment to collectors.
Additionally wanted are snuff packing containers made by famend craftsmen of their time, resembling Jean Ducrollay, some of the celebrated boxmakers in 18th-century Paris; Nathaniel Mills, one among England’s most profitable 18th-century silversmiths; and legendary Russian goldsmith and jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé.
The very best value recorded for a snuff field in WorthPoint’s Worth Information over the previous three years is $86,300 for a Russian silver-gilt, cloisonné, and en plein enamel field that bought in June 2025. The field carried this hefty value not just for its craftsmanship but additionally as a result of it’s attributed to Feodor Rückert, some of the proficient enamelers working in pre-revolutionary Russia.
On the different finish of the value scale, easy examples will be discovered for comparatively small sums. WorthPoint’s value listings present that many snuff packing containers manufactured from papier-mâché and wooden have bought for $25 or much less.
Given their huge vary of supplies and kinds, snuff packing containers will be confused with different small and ornate items, resembling capsule packing containers. Since their main utilitarian goal was to retailer and shield floor tobacco from drying out, snuff packing containers sometimes had tight-fitting lids and customarily excessive inside rims to maintain them as hermetic as doable. Many packing containers have been additionally lined with gold gilt to maintain the snuff dry.
Snuff packing containers, valued extra at present as ornamental objects than for his or her unique perform, proceed to captivate collectors who admire the craftsmanship and wealthy legacy of those diminutive delights.
Adina Okay. Francis has been a author and editor within the antiques and collectibles discipline for greater than twenty years. She has a little bit of an obsession with the Victorians and thinks that canines are one among life’s best presents.
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