Orders, Decorations and Medals

Trafalgar & Waterloo Commemorative Snuff Box, a circular wooden snuff box, 73 mm in diameter and 14 mm in depth, the lid embossed with a scene of a Naval and a Military pensioner, both smoking long pipes, one holding a tankard, one with a wooden leg, the other with only one arm, seated on a bench engaged in animated discussion; the legend around ‘VICTORY, TRAFALGAR 21 October 1805, WATERLOO 18 June 1815’, signed Westwood on an upright of the bench, in excellent condition with attractive red/brown patination, extremely rare and an interesting historical object £600-800

John Westwood (1774-1850), of Sheffield, is noted by Leonard Forrer (Biographical Dictionary of Medallists VI/459) as having made dies in the early part of the 19th century for medals and for embossing on snuff boxes. This snuff box is the first to be seen by the cataloguer and is believed to be totally unpublished.