Antique Scottish snuff mull, with a curved horn body and silver mounts, engraved with a monogram to lid, 19th century. The silver rim acts as the mount for a silver hinge and lid, engraved with initials "RB".
Snuff is a powdered tobacco flavoured with aromatic spices which is sniffed, or ‘snuffed’ into the nasal cavity. The name came from the shortened form of the Dutch word snuftabak, from the root words meaning sniff and tobacco. As addictive as smoking but without the smoke, snuff was thought to be more medicinal and thus more moral to use. Snuff originated with tobacco in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the seventeenth century. Snuff varied enormously depending on its source, the most prized coming from Spain, France, and Scotland, with the most highly regarded from Brazil. Snuff mulls derive from the Scottish dialect for mill, where the snuff would have been ground to a powder, and come in a variety of forms with the most common fashioned from a ram's horn. The quality of the snuff mull is based on the tightness of the curve on the horn and quality of silver mount, which is often unmarked.
Size in inches: 3 ¼ w
M21258
