19th century silver snuff box by Nathanial Mills

Code: 9580

Dimensions:

19th century silver snuff box by Nathanial Mills.  Rectangular in form with rounded ends, the lid engraved with rococo foliate decoration, repeated to the sides and base. Finely inset full-length hinge and closely fitting lid. The central cartouche engraved with the initials A.F. The inside of the lid engraved ‘Presented by the family of the late Henry Fyfe to Arch’d M. Fyfe 16th March 1857’. London silver hallmark for 1845 and makers initials N.M. for Nathanial Mills.
Archibald Morrison Fyfe was a marble merchant from the company Galbraith and Winton of Glasgow, renowned dealers, cutters and engravers of marble. With his birth in 1817, in Paisley, Renfrewshire, this may well have been a 40th birthday gift from the family. The box possibly originally belonged to Henry Fyfe, the patriarch of the firm making high quality dress cloth in Glasgow in the mid 19th century.