Question about cinnabar boxes and other cinnabar items

Dear Frank, I am so very sorry for failing to acknowledge your help! I also apologize to the many others who took time from their busy days to give me so much helpful information and to share such fascinating stories about treasure hunting, including, in addition to Frank, Jason, George, Adrian, Giovanni, Tom and Joey. I really learned much from your responses. You answered many of my questions about these boxes and other items. I am afraid I have been away from the forum for a while and just checked back in to find I missed all these replies, with such excellent information, not to mention that I missed hundreds of fascinating snuff bottle posts that I will have to catch up on.

My teenage son (who has mild autism and is very bright) returned to college in August, then decided to take a leave of absence so he could try out becoming (ugh) a professional poker player. That has had me worried/preoccupied. I've also been very busy with metalsmithing class and lapidary work and didn't realize how much time had passed since I last looked in.

My parent's neighbor, who collected (mostly very inexpensive, touristy) Chinese decorative items decided to move and my parents went to the tag sale the second day and bought me half the things there, I think, for three hundred dollars, as they know I have a mostly undecorated condo and like Chinese artwork. Now they are having great difficulty mailing it all to me, but amongst the items so far have received were three cheap snuff bottles, which made me think of this site, only because one has me quite puzzled as to material. They also sent me many small carved panels, some of which have red lacquer or paint on them, which might have been made with cinnabar? They smell camphorish. I love the panels and plan to put them in some sort of pattern on the wall in my entryway hall. (I also had bought while antiquing, for a bargain price, a large but lightweight cinnabar carved panel that I gave to my sister and brother-in-laws for their anniversary, as they liked it.)

(I will try to post the snuff bottles tonight if possible or later if I don't get a chance. They said they had a price of $3- $5 each, I think, so they did not go wrong with them!)