At the beginning of Queen Anne’s reign the taking of snuff became popular in England, thought to be as a result of the vast amounts which infiltrated the London market following the capture of Spanish ships carrying snuff in the action of Vigo Bay. It had been introduced to Europe many years before, the Spaniards having first tried it following the discovery by Cortes of Mexicans taking snuff in 1520. The taking of snuff persisted despite two popes issuing bulls against the strange new habit, and, in fact, became exceedingly fashionable during the eighteenth century. It still has a following today. (more…)

All the way down through history people have needed boxes of one sort or another. Exquisite little gold, silver or enamel ones have been made for them to carry their cachous or essences, and large wooden ones toput their Bibles and deeds in: richly embroidered ones have served for their silks and ribbons, magnificently decorated ones for the jewels, and coarse leaden ones for their tobacco and snuff.

This section looks at some of the many boxes you see in antique shops. Of course, nobody would ever want to collect all these different boxes unless they were equipping a museum, nor even would they probably want just to collect “boxes“. But on their way round they may easily come across some particular type of box they hadn’t considered before, and would like to find out more about. (more…)