Silver snuff jar

[coldstone543]

While hunting a church hillside in mountadams cincinnati ohio with my whites 6000 series two detector I found an old silver jar.It is the size of a quarter and is marked sterling inside the rim.Also there is a large S with a diagnal slash through it with a shield surrounding itstamped next to sterling.Any help on age or ID would be greatly appreciated.Thanks and good luck hunting.

 

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[DigEmAll]

Thats a cool little snuff can you got there CS. Nice find!

 

[JakePhelps]

Neat snuff jar! can't think of much else it would be used for besides toothpicks or something lol.

 

[Leon]

Great little find,,, WTG!!!
Not a clue on the markings, or the age...
Good luck & Happy hunting~

 

[Gypsy Heart]

i dont think its a snuff can....but what do I know?.....but with snuff...they made them where you could get a two finger "pinch" and I am not seeing where a man (lets hope its a man) could get his fingers in there....it does look about the size of an old Kodak film canister....so I think Jake was more on the money that it was used for something else....

 

[Wetgreenie]

Could it be a Match stick holder? the ol' blue tip, wood stick kind?

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Coldstone...how tall is this container?

 

[chellyp]

I have one very simular, but more rounded and was told it was it was promo to hold needles...

 

[JakePhelps]

yea its probably for needles, matches, toothpicks, mints, or something small like that

 

[JerV3]

Nice, It could have held anything small. My best guess is that some type of pills were stored in it. It was probably also used for all sorts of things. Who know's how many hands it has passed.

HH Jer

 

[DigEmAll]

A sterling silver match or toothpick holder? I think not! LOL I can almost guarantee that it is a snuff can. Dry, powder snuff isn't pinched, it is poured straight from the can into the lip, or if they were at home where the jar of snuff is, they would use a spoon. Cans like this one were used to carry your snuff in your pocket, and would be refilled daily.

In the early days, snuff such as Bruton Snuff wasn't put in the mouth at all, it was "snuffed" up the nose. Although the dry snuff is still available, the moist snuff (dip or chew) such as Copenhagen is more common. Bruton Snuff still to this day comes in an aluminum can much like the one shown.

Below is a link to one on E-bay, although the listed item it tin, I beleive you'll get the idea.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tin-Snuff-Can-1...ryZ38053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Gypsy Heart]

hahaha...I told you I didnt know ..good detective work .

 

[DigEmAll]

Thanks Gypsyheart.... I aim to please!

 

[Monty]

My grandmother was a snuff dipper until the day she died and had several of these. She was born in the 1880s and women using snuff weren't that unusual in Indian Territory. Monty

 

[DigEmAll]

Still isn't that unusual in the mountains of north Georgia where I grew up for women to dip today!

 

[rjnail]

very nice find, what evr it is,

 

[Nana40]

OHHH....my dear sweet Granny had one of those! Bruton snuff! Don't think I ever saw her sniff snuff though....always a little under the lip! LOL!

Short story.....
This was in the late 1960's....
My Granny and her sister-in-law decided to take a driving trip out to California. They were both up in age and my Granny couldn't drive. They got pulled over by the police one night for going too slow! Made them find a hotel room till the next day. After they finally made it there my Granny discovered that they didn't sell Bruton snuff in California. She wrote my mother a letter and requested that she purchase some and send it to her pronto!

My Mom passed away a couple of years ago and while going through the letters and cards she had saved over the years I found that one.

 

[Monty]

My Grandmother dipped Garreth and Scotty snuff! Garreth came in a small water glass and she had dozens of them. Scotty brand came in a cardboard rolled box with a picture of two black Scotty Terrior dogs on it wearing caps with red and black plaid trim. I remember them well. That stuff was as dry and as fine as desert sand. She used a little wooden icecream spoon to dip it out of the containers. I don't even see dry snuff in stores anymore. It's been replaced by the so called smokeless tobacco. I never saw Grandma spit and I never saw a spitoon or any sign of that sort of thing around her house, Makes me wonder if she swallowed that stuff? Gag! How odd that I just thought of that! We're dredging up some memories here as she has been dead for more than 40 years! I feel another story coming on! Monty