Watch List notes:

A Large Silver Snuff Box & Royal Naval Reserve Decoration attributed to Captain Edward James Minister, Mercantile Marine, comprising: Royal Naval Reserve Decoration, G.V.R., unnamed, reverse bearing hallmarks for London dated 1916; Silver Snuff Box, silver, by Stokes & Ireland Ltd, circular, lid engraved 'Capt. E.J. Minister from W.E.J. Sept. 1901', lid and interior bearing hallmarks for London dated 1901, and maker's mark 'S.I.Ld', 84mm diameter x 30mm depth, 94.87g, snuff box with small edge bumps, a few marks, and some polishing, medal very fine. This lot offered with a copy Council of Trade Certificate of Competency as Second Mate to Edward James Minister, dated 28 August 1890 and with an original photograph of the officers of S.M.S. Nürnberg, a note on the reverse giving the location as Zanzibar. Captain Edward James Minister was born at Cardigan, South Wales, in 1870. He qualified for the Merchant Marine on 28 August 1890 and appears on the Navy List that and every subsequent year until 1939. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a Sub-Lieutenant on 5 April 1897 and was promoted Lieutenant on 20 December 1898 and Lieutenant Commander on 20 December 1906. He married at Swansea in 1899 and was awarded the Royal Naval Reserve Decoration in 1915. He travelled very widely during his career, particularly to the West Indies. He died in Autumn 1939. The photograph of the officers S.M.S. Nürnberg is annotated as being taken at Zanzibar and we can thus date it to March 1910 when the ship was on its way from Germany to join the German East Asia Fleet. The Nürnberg was sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914, all but seven of her crew of 322 being lost. (£100-150)