Tobacco box (base)

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This mariner's brass tobacco box, incorporating two navigational aids, was made in the Netherlands in 1792.

The base of the box (pictured here) is engraved with a scale for estimating a ship's speed. The inscription 'Den eeuwigh duerende almanack' [The ever-lasting almanac'], is a reference to the perpetual calender on the lid of the box.

Invented in about 1750 by a retired Swedish mariner based in Antwerp named Pieter Holm, each box is dated at the end of the perpetual calendar with the final four digits.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-190-001-046-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1966.1
• Date: 1792
  
• Material: Brass lid. Inscription: Reght Door Zee (engraved on side)
  Tobacco box / calendar, perpetual
  
• Dimensions: 5.88" L x 1.75" B
  
• What: Tobacco box / calendar, perpetual
  
• Subject: 20. TIME MEASUREMENT (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who: Julius Caesar
  Miss D. Salveson, Edinburgh (Original donor)
  Pieter Holm (Eponym)
  Pope Gregory XIII
  
• Where: Netherlands
  
• Event:
• Description: Pieter Holm's Dutch tobacco box, with a perpetual calendar engraved on the brass lid, and a scale for estimating a ship's speed engraved on the bottom, 1792
  
• References:
  • Bennett, J.A., The Divided Circle: A history of instruments for astronomy, navigation and surveying. Oxford: 1987, p 31 
  • Crone, E. trans. by Bronwer, D., with introductory essay by Pugsley, E., Pieter Holm and his tobacco box. Connecticut: Mystic, 1953 
• Translations:
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