Antique c1700s French 14k Gold Pique Snuff Box, Portrait Miniature King Louis XV

A remarkable find! Offering here a spectacular and early snuff box, a pocket snuff, 2.75" in diameter, still in the protective presentation and travel etui. I have been told, and it does seem very likely that the portrait is a "sitting" miniature (one of a kind) of French King Louis XV in his later years. It's likely, as a nose will thicken and the mouth certainly looks right, eyes in age. Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He was 64 at the time of his death, so for his time quite an old gentleman who would show some aging as we see here in this personal item he's had done as a personal gift, perhaps to his mistress, Madame De Pompadour. We can't know the exact history of this box, however. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. He is the father of ill-fated King Louis XVI, husband of French Queen Marie-Antoinette. The small box is mounted in 14k