This snuff-box was produced in 1780 by the noted German craftsman Johann Christian Neuber. In the late 18th century the collecting of minerals was a fairly common pastime among the senior members of Catherine's court. The same kind of fascination found reflection in a new method of decorating jewellers' products. In the late 18th century a type of mineralogical snuff-box known as a "cabinet of stones" had become established with decoration consisting of a combination of sheets of precious and decorative stones and stone mosaics. The first pieces of this sort originated in Saxony. This particular snuff-box came into the Hermitage collection soon after it was made. Inside is a small book entitled Specification d'une Tabattiere composée d'une cabinet des pierres dont on trouve LXXXVII Pierres précieuses qui se trouvent dans l'Electorat de Saxe, faite par Jean Chrêtien Neuber àDresde that contains a list of the minerals used.
The snuff-box was kept in the Winter Palace from the 18th century and in the Gallery of Jewellery from the mid-19th.