2004-09
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2004
Brass Snuff Box, 2”x1-1/2”, purported to have belonged to Jefferson Davis. The snuff box is engraved “J.Davis 1857”, and is decorated with a vine, glass and pitcher. In the inside of the lid is stamped “W. HOWE W HAMPTON”. The inscription is of a later date than the snuff box. Shows use. The provenance is the snuff box collection of the late Jane Webb Reed Corson, sold at Alderfers Auction, Hatfield, Pa. The owner was a noted collector and lecturer on antique snuff boxes. The only person with the name Howe, close enough to Jefferson Davis to recieve such a present, could be William Wirt Howe (1833-1909), adjutant-general on the staff of General A.L. Lee and later an important political and cultural personality in New Orleans. William Howe’s son, Wirt Howe (1873-1944) was a New York City lawyer, who owned property in West Hampton. The snuff box was probably inherited from his father.
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