Robert Hamilton (1772-1848) arrived in India and started work in Calcutta in 1808. He opened his Jewellery and Silversmithing shop at 5 Tank Square in 1808 under licence from the East Indian Company (1).
In 1811 the business moved to 7 Court House Street, where it remained until 1973 when it finally closed. Needing capital to expand the business Robert Hamilton took two partners, Henry and James Glazbrook in 1811. Robert Hamilton’s interest ceased in 1817, and he dedicated the latter part of his life to collecting paintings, including works by Rubens, Velazquez and Holbein.
During the subsequent years the business had many partners including: Henry and James Glazbrook, James Middleton, George Thoerpe, Charles Galliards, Alexander Rogers II, Henry Augustus Woolaston, William , Joseph, John and George Farrell Remfry, Robert John Dring and Thomas William Brookes.
H&Co opened branches in other parts of India: Bombay (1833-36 and from 1868); Delhi and Simla (1865 onwards).

Historical map of India	Trade mark struck on an art deco style brushes set circa 1930/1940.

A few bibliographic sources are available to reconstruct the silver marks used at different times by Hamilton & Co. Jackson: (reference 1), in his famous book on British hallmarks of the beginning of 20th century gives only a small amount of information about Hamilton & Co.. Furthermore citations are reported as personal communication rather than written documents. The more exhaustive description (at least covering the first half of XIX century) is given by Wynyard Wilkinson (reference 2), in his famous and very rare book (only 1,000 copies produced) devoted to British silversmiths operating in India. Hamilton & Co. is probably the best known and celebrated British silversmith operating in India (he is known as the Garrard of India). Among the main commissions received there is a vase for Rundell Bridge and Rundell in 1825. In 1844 Hamilton & Co. invents the Toffee pot, a coffee pot that can be also used as a teapot. His silver works are always elegant with minimal decoration (mainly plain design) and of great consistency as I have realized from the five items belonging to my collections (crafted between 1812 and 1970) and other items found on line. The following table reports examples of marks both as reported by Wynyard Wilkinson, and derived from a deep (although not exhaustive) research on the internet and in other bibliographic sources. The reported marks include those found on the items belonging to my personal collection (link for description are reported in the last column).

 

MARK	DATE LETTER	PERIOD	SOURCE	REMARKS
	-	1808 1817	a	Before Hamilton & Co. foundation the marks were an elephant, a capital letter A and the Robert Hamilton initials (R H)
	-	1812	d	Now the maker's marks is H & Co. This mark is the only one reported by Jackson (1) for Hamilton & Co., stating that it was used since 1810. The real date of the mark cannot be before 1812 (date of foundation of Hamilton & Co.)
	-	1812 1820	a	At this date the previous marks are accompanied by an urn and a symbol similar to a tailed sphere with some smaller spheres around
	-	1812 1820	b	A variant of the above marks. The sequence of single marks (impressed one by one) seems to be casual see the item description
	-	1821 1845	a	The elephant and the urn are struck in punches which follow the borders of the symbols and the letter 'A'. A new symbol (a thistle ?) is now struck instead of the tailed sphere
	-	1850 1860	a	The urn is no longer struck in the sequence of marks, but the thistle still continues to be used
	-	1868	a	Since this date, on marks struck on items crafted at the Bombay branch, the A is missing. It is not clear how long this kind of mark was in use
	-	1860 1914    ?	c	Thistle is no longer struck. The reported range (1860 - 1914) is only an estimation of the use of this particular mark see the item description see the item description
	-	1912	e	The maker's marks is still H & Co
	-	1914	c	Mark found on a little item engraved with a presentation including the date of 1914. Of course the item could be marked before this date. The mark is without the capital A and bears the word 'silver' which was then struck at least from this date on Mark found on a couple of brushes contained in a case bearing the trade mark you can see by clicking on this link. The inscription refers to a king, so the date of the mark should be between 1901 and 1926 (see below). But, as the letter 'A' is missing, we can date this item between 1914 and 1926.
	-	1926	c	Mark found on a trophy cup with an inscription including the date of 1926. There is not the traditional trade mark, but the impression 'Hamilton & Co. Calcutta' . Of course this item could have been marked before this date, but it is likely that the inscription is contemporary to the mark
	-	1932 1937	b, c	The maker's mark is now H & Co Ltd. It is not clear when Hamilton & Co. changed its status in Limited, but, according to the mark above, this should be after 1926 see the item description This could be the 1937 mark (in this year a date letter was introduced, see below) On an item with an engraved presentation citing the date 1932, the marks are similar but the capital letter A is missing. It may be that after the introduction of the world 'silver' the capital A was omitted until 1937.
	A	1937   or 1962	a	From 1937 a date letter was introduced in place of the traditional Roman 'A'. The series ran until H & Co Ltd. closed in 1973, with 25 letters of the Roman Alphabet (leaving out the 'J'), recommencing with a new Roman 'A' in 1962
	B	1938   or 1963	a
	C	1939   or 1964	a
	D	1940   or 1965	a
	E	1941   or 1966	a
	F	1942   or 1967	a
	G	1943   or 1968	a
	H	1944   or 1969	a
	I	1945   or 1970	a, b	see the item description
	K	1946   or 1971	a, c
	L	1947   or 1972	a
	M	1948   or 1973	a
	N	1949	a
	O	1950	a
	P	1951	a
	Q	1952	a
	R	1953	a
	S	1954	a	At least from this date on, but probably earlier, the maker's mark of Hamilton & Co Ltd assumed the characteristic tri-lobed shape
	T	1955	a
	U	1956	a
	V	1957	a
	W	1958	a
	X	1959	a
	Y	1960	a
	Z	1961	a, c
MARK	DATE LETTER	PERIOD	SOURCE	REMARKS

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a (reference 2)
b Private Collection
c Information found on line
d (reference 1)
e John Culme 'The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths' (1987). Oral communication.
 

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REFERENCES
(1) Charles J. Jackson, 1964: ENGLISH GOLDSMITHS AND THEIR MARKS - A History of the Goldsmiths and Plate Workers of England, Scotland and Ireland. Second Edition, Dover Publications Inc., New York.
(2) Wynyard R.T. Wilkinson, 1987: INDIAN COLONIAL SILVER– EUROPEAN SILVERSMITHS IN INDIA (1790 - 1860) AND THEIR MARKS. - R.T.W. Wilkinson ed., London.

- Giovanni Ciceri 2006 -
www.argentinglesi.com