willowfox has quite an amazing story concerning this little artifact:

"Here's an interesting little artifact.
I bought this from a very old woman at an antique store, unknowingly.
I actually bought an old milk crate of miscellaneous things, tidbits from the past, for around 28$.
Having gotten it all home, bouncing around in the bottom of the crate under the riser platform for the milk, was this brass can.
Everyone I showed it to said it was a "snuff can"
However I didn't think it was a real artifact for a long time, just because well, what would the captain be doing with custom snuff cans, and if it were what people say, then wouldn't it be ON him?
So I shrugged it off until one day I was cleaning my old typewriter (1911 Glass sided Royal) and I took the ink ribbon off, set the empty take-up reel next to the can on the shelf, and stopped and looked at it for a second, it looked like it would fit inside. So I tried it and it fit perfectly...
Witch re-sparked my interest in it, but then I thought to myseld "The Titanic was RMS not SS..." So I asked some places, i walked down to the historical society in Fitchburg where I lived at the time, and talked to the man there, he said to go to this place in Boston, there is a nautical expert there who would know things like this. So i did, The conversation went something like this:
"Hello, What can I do for you?"
me: "I have this apparent ink ribbon can from the 1900s thats marked Titanic. but i don't think its real because it says SS not RMS."
to witch he replied "not everything marked Titanic, was ON the titanic, Let me see it."
So I handed it to him and he quickly put it down and pulled a pair of white cloth gloves from his pocket and put them on and picked it back up. he held it up and stared at it quietly for a couple minutes, placed it down on the desk and lend back and folded his hands and said "Well, you have an amazing little piece there." I said "Really? What is it?" He said "It IS indeed an ink ribbon can, it may never have been on the ship, it is labeled SS because that stands for Sailing Ship, RMS stands for Royal Magestry's Ship, so this was before the Titanic was finished. So it would have been in his office at South ampton dock, where she was being built. And if I remember correctly, only three of these cans were ever made. One is at the titanic museum, among the smaller non displayed items, and I am not sure i've ever heard of the others being located. No known "reproductions" were ever made, hell, not many people even know these existed. The captain would have recorded his logs and for a captain, this was a very important thing, even though the ship wasn't ready, he would have typed about her progress." Me:
"SoooOooo how much do you think it would be worth, just for shigs?" him "My guess, is that depending on the person, how much they were willing to spend, and how avid of a collector of titanic memorabilia they are, They could spend anything, because such an item has no real dollar value, it's priceless as part of history, but I would guess it's worth a great deal of money." Me: Well do you buy things for display here at the museum?" his response: "*laugh* let me put it this way, we wouldn't have enough money for that if we did want to buy it. We will however gladly display it with your name as a donor if you wish to donate it." Me "Well what should I do with it?" Him:"If you want to sell it, find a collector, or an auction house that deals in nautical items, then with what you get for it, go buy a couple houses...." I kind of went silent at that point and he gave me the "I'm serious" look. I shook his hand and thanked him, leaving his office with a huge grin on my face and a buzzing in my head. I never did sell it, I should but I really don;'t know where to start, how do you go about selling something this historical lol I might as well have King Tut's left nut. "

Original post can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1056270/