JH's 1866 Hand-Engraved, Double Hinged Brass Swedish Snuff Box with Swimming Serpent fish design including what looks like a

including what looks like a few pencil and pen marks--but still really a lovely piece

)"--with the unknown-ness of one of the subjects seeming directly at odds with the intimacy conveyed in the image

with each letter of each name carefully carved in capital letters against stippled grounds

and more layers of paper inside

JH's 1866 Hand-Engraved, Double Hinged Brass Swedish Snuff Box with Swimming Serpent fish design including what looks like aJust my sort of snuff box, with the freehand engraving about as folky as it gets, and I sure do love the manner of that lettering. But most of all I love the manner of that sea serpent, emerging from the wavering line of the sea, and another wavering line below giving rise to a leafy sprig. The mark on the flip side identifies the brass box as Swedish, produced by Westers Metallfabrik, a metalworking company that was based in Vsters, (on the shore of