The piece was auctioned at Forno's Auctioneers yesterday with two bidders competing for the piece and the final bid $6100.
Fornos gave the elderly owner overnight to decide whether or not he wanted to part with the piece.
Rare book dealer Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle said the box's connection with Robert Burns and personal inscription, which was mostly indecipherable except for the words "Robt Burns, May 8th 1786" and "Auld lang syne" made the piece special.
If the inscription was genuine, which he believed it was, the $6100 winning bid would be a bargain, although there were other snuff boxes belonging to Burns out there, he said.
When asked what he would do with the piece if its owner decided to sell it, he said Burns institutes and collectors in the United Kingdom would probably be interested in having it in their collection.
