SNUFF

[French snuff boxes, Christie's auction catalogue.] Catalogue of the Collection of Old French Snuff-Boxes and Objects of Vertu formed by Sir Edward Marshall Hall, K.C. deceased.

Author: 
Sir Edward Marshall Hall, K.C. [Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods, London auctioneers; French snuff boxes]
Publication details: 
By Order of the Executors. Sold by auction on 22 June 1927 by Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods at their Great Rooms, 8 King Street, St. James's Square, London. [Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London.]
£90.00

14pp, 4to. Stitched into grey printed wraps. In good condition, lightly aged, with one corner slightly dog-eared. 143 lots, divided into two sections: 'Miniatures and Enamels' and 'Objects of Vertu'. The snuff-boxes feature in the latter, and include: '112 A Louis XVI. plain oblong gold snuff-box, with rounded ends and reeded borders - bearing the mark of Henri Clavel, Paris 1778 - the rim engraved "DU PETIT DUNKERQUE"' and '122 A LOUIS XV.

Autograph Letter, in the third person, from Elizabeth Charlotte Nugent, Marchioness of Westmeath, to her druggists Messrs Fitz & Ch<ambers?>, ordering 'Canisters of Cephalic snuff' and 'one pound of mustard ground to make Poultices'.

Author: 
Elizabeth Charlotte Nugent [née Verner] (d.1882), Marchioness of Westmeath, wife of George Thomas John Nugent (1785-1871), 1st Marquess of Westmeath
Publication details: 
Cossey [Costessey] Hall, Norfolk. 7 December 1868.
£56.00

2pp., 12mo. On first leaf of bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with unobtrusive spike hole. The letter begins: 'The Marchioness of Westmeath is much obliged to Mesrrs. Fitz & for the two Canisters of Cephalic snuff sent according to desire & requests they will be so good as to forward by the Bearer three or four more Canisters - Also a box of Pills made up exactly according to the enclosed prescription which Lady Wth.

Ten Typed Letters Signed and eight Autograph Letters Signed (four 'Guy S Wellby' and the rest 'Guy') from Wellby to Franklin, with an inventory and valuation, schedule, accounts and correspondence relating to Rogers' collection of snuff boxes.

Author: 
Guy Wellby, Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company, adviser to Ian Fleming [D. and J. Wellby Ltd, Jewellers and Silversmiths, Garrick Street, London; Franklyn Rogers; snuff boxes]
Publication details: 
Wellby's letters between 1948 and 1967; on letterheads of D. and J. Wellby Ltd.
£200.00

The collection, consisting of 31 items in a variety of formats, is in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete. Wellby's correspondence with Rogers (an affluent Kent businessman and farmer, collector and dabbler in the jewellery business) reflects a relationship at once businesslike and friendly, with items being offered by Wellby on behalf of his firm, and news of items consigned to the firm by Rogers. The personal element is apparent from the first.

Autograph Letter Signed to <?>.

Author: 
Francis Henry Bacon
Publication details: 
11 August 1893; on letterhead 'KENTWELL HALL, | LONG MELFORD, | SUFFOLK.'
£36.00

Three pages, 12mo. In good condition, but with the name of the recipient scored through. Judge (born c. 1832), and son of Sir James Bacon (1798-1895), the last of the pre-1875 Vice-Chancellors. A late reply to a request for information for an article on snuffboxes for The Windsor Magazine. 'I have no snuffboxes I suppose somebody suggested our name but I have never been a collector and my father [the late Ex Vice Chancellor] who took snuff always used the commonest of boxes.' The name of the recipient has been scored through.

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