Great Hand-carved Wooden Puzzle Lid Snuff Box, Signed and Dated 1776 cross hatching in his finery

in his finery

Sciences & Literature published by Longman

with a satisfying moodiness and sense of symbolism to it

Approx 8 1/8" long x 5" tall x 4 1/2" widest (when fully opened/expanded)

perhaps glad to be freed from the dowel that once stuck in his back and held him up to make him dance

Great Hand-carved Wooden Puzzle Lid Snuff Box, Signed and Dated 1776 cross hatching in his fineryI found this one in Maine, purchased from a dealer who had two other 18th century (those two Dutch) snuff boxes alongside them, I am sure from the same collection. (Those two were in rough shape or I would have bought them two.) I love a wooden snuff box with puzzle lid, but often one finds them with a loss at one side that keeps them from working properly not the case here; it works just as it should. And then the happy surprise of a year written