A rare gold and enamel tontine snuff box, London, circa 1758

Named after the Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti (circa 1602–circa 1684), a tontine is an investment scheme that originated in the 17th century. Each participant in a tontine contributes a specific amount to a shared fund, which is then used for various investments. Investors receive annual interest on the capital which gradually increases with each death of a member. The deceased’s share is reallocated to the surviving investors, which is why the names and dates of death of the participants are recorded in enamel on the present gold box. The process of receiving annual interest continues until the death of the final investor, but the capital itself is never paid back.

Tontines quickly became popular instruments for funding public buildings and even warfare when funds were otherwise difficult to raise. In 1689, Louis XIV used a tontine to finance military operations, and the English government relied on tontines to fund their war against France during the Nine Years' War (1688–1697).

The scheme remained in use throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly in England. For example, Richmond Bridge and the Theatre Royal in Bath were funded through tontines, with the Prince Regent and his brother Prince Frederick among the investors.

The participants in the large tontine group represented in the present box were members or close friends of the Northamptonshire branch of the Crewe family, whose influence and wealth originated in the seventeenth century and continued until their last descendant, Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, died in 2015 leaving her house and its contents to Bamber Gascoigne (the sale of her property including many Crewe family pieces took place at Sotheby's, London, 27th & 28th May 2015).

The first person in the tontine to die, as recorded in this box, is Dorothy Crewe (1673-1715), the second wife of Nathaniel Crewe, 3rd Baron and Bishop of Durham (1633-1721). Crewe became one of the chaplains in order of King Charles II, later deputy clerk in closet, followed by a position as Lent preacher at court. While in London, Crewe became acquainted with the diarist Samuel Pepys who described him as 'a very fine sober gentleman'. After his first marriage to Dorothy Crewe, Nathaniel, then 67, married Dorothy Forster, who was only 27, a fair, blue-eyed and charming lady, known as 'pretty Dolly Forster'. Dorothy was very fond of her nephew, Thomas Forster (1683-1735), also recorded as a participant in this tontine. Thomas Forster was a prominent figure in the first Jacobite uprising and when he was arrested, Dorothy fell into convulsions and died in October 1716. Nathaniel Crewe was inconsolable and spent hours sitting alone beside Dorothy's grave. As the couple never had children, Nathaniel Crewe left his fortune as a charitable trust which is still in existence.

Among those listed in the next generation is Armine Crewe (1678?- 1727), niece of Nathaniel Crewe, and daughter of Thomas, 2nd Baron Crewe (1624-1697), Nathaniel's brother, whose portrait stayed in the family until the sale of the Duchess of Roxburghe in May 2015 (see fig. 1). That portrait is mentioned in the will of her sister, Elizabeth, Countess of Aran (1680?-1756), another participant in the tontine, as follows 'To My nephew Cartwright, his Mother's picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller that hangs in my Bed Chamber in Grosvenor Street' (Prob. 11/827).

The tontine also included friends and neighbours of the Crewe family, such as Ralph Lane (1655?-1732). When he married Elizabeth Blackwell, also listed on the box, in 1693, he is described as 'Formerly a Turkey Merchant, a Gentleman of a good Estate and very ancient family in Northamptonshire' (Stamford Mercury, Thursday 27th September 1722, p.164). Ralph Lane was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in November 1692. His daughter, Mary (1700? – 4th July 1753), also recorded in the tontine, married George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, whose father also participated in the tontine. The last person listed on the box is Sir Clement Cottrell Dormer (1686-1758, see fig. 2), who was a courtier and master of ceremonies, whose daughter Elizabeth married William Cartwight. William Cartwight's first wife had been Byzantia Lane (1706?-1738, born in Constantinople, hence her first name) whose own name is listed on the tontine. The second Mrs William Cartwight was living at the time of her husband's death in 1768 but no evidence can confirm whether he or she had finally won the tontine.

A few gold boxes with the same maker’s mark as on the present lot - GH crowned - have appeared over the years (see Sotheby's, London, 7 December 1981, lot 36 and the sale of the Collections of Hanns and Elisabeth Weinberg and the Antique Company of New York, Sotheby’s New York, 11 October 2006, lot 132). Because their date of manufacture, however, falls to the end of the bracket of the missing Goldsmiths’ small worker Records for 1738–1758 (see also the previous lot in this sale), it has not yet been possible to identify the goldsmith.

Nonetheless it is tempting to suggest that the second initial of this maker – H – stands for the Harrache family, especially when considering the striking similarity between the design and quality of the present lot and a gold box made by Francis Harrache in 1757, formerly in the collection of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (1744-1812) (fig. 3, sold Christie’s, London, An Iberian Private Collection Part I: Important Gold Boxes & Objects of Vertu, 8 December 2011, lot 116). Francis Harrache was a ‘jeweler, goldsmith, and toyman’ recorded in the Parish of St. Giles.

Tontine snuff boxes are exceptionally rare. One other recorded example is an engraved gold and enamel box by Jasper Cunst, London, 1764/65, in the Gilbert Collection at the V&A (see fig.s 4 and 5, accession no 389:1,2-2008).