Snuff box
Men and women in colonial Virginia enjoyed taking snuff, a preparation of finely ground tobacco often enhanced with aromatic oils, herbs, or spices. Household accounts indicate Martha Washington favored "best Violette Strasberg," a scented snuff popular among women. She probably stored her snuff in this exquisite gold snuffbox with agate lid. Gold snuffboxes were a rare luxury item in 18th-century America. Almost all were imported from England, including this box. There, specially-trained gold chasers expertly hammered lively rococo designs into its flat sides, while an engraver deftly executed the Custis coat of arms on its underside.
Accompanied by note (in object file) on torn and folded wove paper inscribed in script (in ink): "Gold snuff box/ given to me/ by my beloved/ Grandmother/ EPC_".
Published ReferencesJoseph McMillan, "Changes of Arms in Colonial North America: The Strange Case of Custis," in The Coat of Arms 3rd seri. 11 (2015), no. 230, plate 5, 125.
Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 248, cat. 85.
Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. Committee on Art and Exhibition, Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Portraits, Relics, and Silverware Exhibited at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, April 17th to May 8th, 1889 (New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 1889), #454, 101.