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Subject:天府紋銀 鼻煙壺
Posted By: Super Sat, Sep 12, 2015
The mark at the bottom of your snuff bottle, I believe is 天府紋銀 Tian Fu Wen Yin
天府 is the official storage place of government documents of the Western Zhou dynasty;
紋銀 usually means sterling silver (0.925 pure).
Therefore the outside layer of your snuff bottle 鼻煙壺 could indeed be made of sterling silver but you probably need to have it tested by professionals to confirm. I have no idea what the inside was made of, possibly like you said, some kinds of stone, even black jade.
There were snuff bottles like that were made during the Qing dynasty, to imitate styles of the Western Zhou dynasty, with the mark of 天府紋銀 on them. However, there were also many modern forgeries that were probably not made of real silver or real jade, sold for high prices. Therefore if I were you I would send pictures of your bottle to large auction houses to see if they would be interested in auctioning for you.
I have found links for snuff bottles and bowls with similar mark:
http://wx.csshq12580.com/index.php?g=Wap&m=Index&a=content&id=115&token=rwlhae1400034398 (looks similar to yours; the author said they were of Qing dynasty)
All these look like modern fakes to me. But I can be wrong since I am no expert:
http://www.gucn.com/Service_CurioStall_Show.asp?Id=7811113
http://www.7788ybc.com/s752/21200451/
http://jd.cang.com/806089.html
http://bbs.cntv.cn/thread-26593896-1-1.html
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Super
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