Snuff box

This snuff box was presented by Colonel Frederick Horn and his fellow officers to James Smith, Purser of the SS Colombo, in gratitude for his kindness to them during their transport to the Crimea in 1854. Horn was a British Army officer who commanded the 20th (East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot at the Siege of Sevastopol. He was wounded at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854.

The snuff box was originally made by Charles Rawlings, a goldsmith with several workshops in London. The inscription to James Smith was added to the box later, either during or after the Crimean War. By the 1850s Rawlings was in a successful partnership with William Summers at premises on Great Marlborough Street. Rawlings and Summers specialised in making snuff boxes. The box has engine-turned decoration and different coloured golds have been employed in the raised floral border and thumbpiece.