First acquisition 2019

30 January 2019

The first object added to our museum collection this year is a special one. It is a Scottish snuff mull made out of a ram's horn. Especially in the nineteenth century such boxes were a status for every Scotsman who sniffed tobacco and there were many. Remarkable about this specimen is the cut cairngorm, a semi-precious stone found in the eponymous Scottish mountains. Furthermore, the garnish of a scoop, brush and rake is unusual, although due to the short chains it doesn’t seem practical in use. The head of a seal, cut out of the usual curl of the ram's horn, makes this snuff box one of a kind. The box was a travel souvenir from Scotland and was kept for generations in an Amsterdam family.

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