This mull box is engraved with the crest of the Clan Gregor, a family from the Scottish Highlands with origins in the 9th century. It also features a tribute to Captain John Macgregor Skinner, who drowned in a storm in 1832. It is thought that the box once belonged to Captain Skinner’s great-grandfather.

The Reverend William Skinner, Captain Skinner’s grandfather, had decided to change the family name after the unsuccessful Jacobite rising of 1715. The Reverend Skinner fled Scotland for Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where he became the rector of St. Peter’s Church. At the time, New Jersey was a colony under English rule.

These boxes carried snuff, a form of pulverised tobacco. Oversized snuff boxes are called mulls. They are made in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials.