Snuffbox

Artist/Maker
Leinbach, Traugott __Retailer ||Lindner, George __Manufacturer
Place Made
Possibly retailed in Salem, North Carolina by Traugott Leinbach Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Date Made
1840-1860
Medium
silver
Dimensions
LOA: 3-1/8″; WOA: 2″; HOA: 7/8″
Accession Number
3140.5
Description
DESCRIPTION: Silver snuffbox with engine-turned decoration on top of the hinged lid that also features a central cartouche for the monogram. The box is rectangular in shape with concave sides. An applied scalloped tab opens the lid. The interior of the box has a gold wash.

INSCRIPTION: Engraved “L. Sch.” in the central cartouche on the top of the lid.

MARK: Struck on the bottom of the interior with intaglio marks of a spread eagle in an oval reserve over an initial “L” in a diamond reserve over a silhouette in an oval reserve.

MAKER: Traugott Leinbach (1796-1863) was born in Salem, North Carolina and at age fifteen was apprenticed to the town’s silversmith and watchmaker John Volger (1783-1881). In March 1820 Leinbach requested permission to travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania–presumably to work as a journeyman silversmith–and begin his own shop upon returning to Salem. A year later Leinbach did return to North Carolina and opened his silversmith’s business in Salem. Only two months later, in March 1821, he was back in Pennsylvania where he married Maria Theresia Lange (1799-1860) of Bethlehem. The couple settled in Salem where Leinbach continually operated his shop over the next forty years. For a time in the 1850s he formed a partnership (T. Leinbach & Son) with one of his sons, Nathaniel Augustine Leinbach (1832-1877). In 1860 he moved with his wife back to her hometown of Bethlehem, where Leinbach died on 30 April 1863. He used marks with two spellings of his last name, “Leinbach” and “Linebach,” throughout his career. See John Bivins and Paula Welshimer, “Moravian Decorative Arts in North Carolina: An Introduction to the Old Salem Collection” (Winston-Salem, NC: Old Salem, 1981) and George Barton Cutten and Mary Reynolds Peacock, “Silversmiths of North Carolina, 1696-1860”, 2nd rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1984).

George Lindner (b.c.1798-d.c.1872) was born in Hanover, Germany and had emigrated to the United States by the 1840s. He owned $2,000 in Philadelphia real estate in 1850 and $3,000 ten years later. His son Herman Lindner (b.c.1831-1891) was also a silversmith. Traugott Leinbach (1796-1863) of Salem, North Carolina seems to have had a long and successful business relationship with George Lindner’s Philadelphia shop. There are many silver items sold by Leinbach and with Salem provenances that possess Lindner’s intaglio manufacturer’s marks of a spread eagle in an oval reserve over the initial “L” in a diamond reserve over a silhouette in an oval reserve. See Catherine B. Hollan, “Philadelphia Silversmiths and Related Artisans to 1861” (McLean, VA: Hollan Press, 2013) and George Barton Cutten and Mary Reynolds Peacock, “Silversmiths of North Carolina, 1696-1860”, 2nd rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1984).

FORM: Inhaling snuff, or powdered tobacco, was introduced to Europe in the 1500s and by the second half of the seventheenth century, ornate boxes were being produced to keep the precious powder dry. In the eighteenth century snuff boxes were often made of silver and more elaborate examples were gold set with gemstones. The shapes of these snuffboxes was most commonly rectangular but oval and even shell-shaped boxes were produced.

Credit Line
Gift of Thomas A. Gray