Wood or Papier Mache Snuff Box?

As I'm not sure where to post this query, have picked the general Antique Discussion forum. I have a black lacquered wood(?) snuff box with a hinged lid. On the lid is a half portrait, print, of a lady. I am calling her a lady because she is fully dressed and not one of those buxom beauties found on some antique snuff boxes. My query, is this box wood or papier mache? I thought for sure I could tell the difference, but on this old box with the lacquer showing irregularities, age, I'm not 100% sure. I have looked at many antique black lacquered snuff boxes online. Some I thought for sure were wood but were called papier mache and vice versa. With these boxes painted in black lacquer, it is very hard to see close-up details of them.

Description:
3 1/2"w x 1 1/2"d x 1"h; 45 grams +\-. Black lacquered snuff box with hinged lid. The hinge is 3" long and very narrow. The hinge is painted with the black lacquer also making it nearly impossible to see. A half portrait of a lady dressed in a red and white/cream outfit on lid. The portrait is not painted on. The box itself is in fairly good condition. The pic has chips and scuffs. The hinge is tight and in good condition.

Here is supposedly an antique black lacquered *wood* snuff box with a hinged lid.
http://www.aspireauctions.com/#!/catalog/95/532/lot/25465

Here is supposedly an antique black lacquered *papier mache* snuff box with a hinged lid online.
http://www.aspireauctions.com/#!/catalog/95/532/lot/25464

The hinges on both of these boxes are not lacquered over making them very visible. I wonder if the hinges on them are not original?

TIA.

--- Susan

 

Papier Mache. I have had many similar with the lid decorated with a stuck on printed picture varnished over.
Yours is in pretty average condition. Modest value, the snuff box market seems to have dropped off a bit lately, and it's a pretty basic decoration.

 

Thanks, Af! I certainly appreciate your opinion. To be honest, I didn't expect great value because of its condition. I have a few silver snuff & pill boxes as well as a couple of later small lacquered boxes. I am adding this one to a beginning collection. They are all small and take up very little space.

--- Susan

 

There is a huge variety for not a lot of money in these boxes.

 

The picture brings Currier and Ives to mind, but I suppose it's more of a generic "beauty" of the day.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=curr...a=X&ei=vhJYVJ-ZGZCgyATIzIGYAQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ

 

I hadn't thought of Currier & Ives! When I do think C & I, my first thought is rural winter scenes. I forget they did many other themes including portraits of women as well as disasters, Civil War, ships, trains, horses, etc... Thank you, for a possibly lead.

I guess I hadn't really thought American on this woman. A dark haired dark eyed continental beauty was in mind. I know Germany did a lot of these snuff boxes as well as France and England. No doubt done in USA also. I think that style hat dates around 1870. A bit similar to a couple of them on the following plate from an 1869 edition of The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine:
http://www.fashion-era.com/images/1869/1869_lindsay_hats.jpg

With those tresses down the back, her hair style may be 1870s also.
http://ladiesof2318.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/1870s-late-victorian/

--- Susan