Tibetan Oversize Snuff Bottle

A flask the size of a hand, flat as a pocket watch and heavy with silver.

Tibetan makers made this oversize snuff bottle in silver and turquoise in the late 19th or early 20th century. Snuff bottles were commonly carried on the person and passed among friends. This flat, round bottle has a slender neck and stopper, and the body is covered in raised silver work, with animals and scrolls around a central rosette set with a turquoise stone. A black cord is looped through the side.

About 5 inches tall. It sits in the hand like a coin and in a cabinet like a jewel.