I inherited this piece - need help with it

[susanklevin1]

This sterling silver cigarette box belonged to my great grandfather and would love help figuring out where it came from (maker/retailer details). Hallmarks: (date letter “m”), lion passant, and a small trefoil maker’s mark. Retailed by Harrods (no visible engraving). About 4 × 3.5 inches, engine-turned with ornate floral border, and unusually lined inside with genuine shagreen (stingray skin).Photos attached: overall views, border/engine-turning detail, open shagreen interior, hallmark close-up. Any clues on:

1. The trefoil maker?

2. Is 1911 the right year for this piece?

3. Likely origin story?

Thank you so much – your expertise is always appreciated!

[Jools]

I’m getting Hamilton and Co of Calcutta !!, possibly an M for 1911 !!

[Jools]

[Guildhall]

It was made by Hamilton & Co.,a renowned British silversmith and jeweller in Kolkata, India. But this cigarette box was likely made in its Eastcheap, London workshop

Established by Robert Hamilton in 1808, the silver company was known for producing exquisite colonial silver and jewelry for British officials and Indian royalty until its closure in the 1970s, its items now sought-after antiques. The firm created high-quality silverware, tea sets, trophies, and jewelry, becoming as prestigious as Tiffany or Cartier in its time and operating from locations like Tank Square and Old Court House Street. in the Indian city.

This is their London, UK registered mark and the date of assay is 1927. This cigarette or cheroot box will have had a cedar lining and divide in it when sold.

As a firm based in Kolkata, India, but with a London presence, registering a mark allowed them to legally sell their silver goods in the prestigious British market and export them to other parts of the world with an official British guarantee.

Hamilton & Co.'s Indian-made silver often used “pseudo-hallmarks” that imitated the British system to reassure European buyers of their quality. A genuine London hallmark provided a formal, legal assurance that these pseudo-marks could not offer.

Aside from Kolkata and Regent Street, London they had shops in Simla and production in Eastcheap and Delhi.

They were far and away the most productive Indian Raj silver producers followed by Henry Twentyman also of Tank St.

Your fine box is curious because despite being made by an Indian-based company it lacks any of the usual fairly complex epousee work of Indian craft by that country’s native workers and in fact has a simple engineered finish created by a machine pattern maker likely in its Eastcheap workshop by English silversmiths employed by Hamilton. Something you see boxes where complex Indian engraving is superimposed on an English box.

One came up recently at local auction. No one was that interested at the time:

Antique & Vintage Snuff Boxes & Tobacco Boxes for Sale in Online...

Here on the other hand is another Hamilton cigarette box presented in India where it was made by native craftsmen inscribing a flight of mallard likely from pictures. A heavy box for a double flight of cigarets.

https://www.rubylane.com/item/2229494-1537/Vintage-Hamilton-Co-Calcutta-India-Solid

CRWW

[Jools]

My Bad , I looked at marks for Birmingham not London Dohhh . Think I’ll just stick to reading the Beano

[susanklevin1]

Thank you so much for your very detailed and helpful response! It’s wonderful to learn so much about this piece and its history!

[susanklevin1]

Thank you! This is awesome! I was struggling with identifying the marks using the charts online.

[Guildhall]

I keep reminding myself as we work with assay marks that they were never intended to allow consumers to identify product like a trademark but to protect the guilds from fraud.

So the Assay men have developed a system of marks that works for them rather than us.

Decades ago I was taught to look at silver holistically and the use marks merely to confirm observable data rather than rely upon it.

I was reminded of the consequences of this approach by a recent comment on this forum by Bart who said he had no interest in fakes and fake marks.

I, on the other hand, find derivative marks more interesting than the carefully catalogued. official marks.

Similarly I like protest marks better than I like compliant marks. I learn more from Irish and Scottish marks than I can from English marks.

Despite all this I am indebted to those like Phil who have made a study of assay marks and have probably done more to update the work of the last century than anybody will ever know.

But Beano is good too!.

CRWW

[Guildhall]

You are very welcome and no, to answer your question, the date of London registration is 1927 not 1911. This particular variant of the hallmark was not in use in 1911 and never in use in Birmingham. The Birmingham hallmark is for Hamilton is quite different and the date letter lowercase “m” is Times Roman not Gothic as yours is.
CRWW

[susanklevin1]

Where would you folks think I might be able to locate collectors - perhaps in the New York City area?

Happy Holidays,

Susan

[Guildhall]

Thank you for your good seasonal wishes. Silver collectors are a universal phenomenon. You find us everywhere. That, I suppose, is why on line auctions do so well.

Yours is a niche collectible box. I cannot tell if your lid hinge has been strained or you merely always display it open but that may need fixing if the former is true.

Also then what are you going to do with it? Sell it devoid of any “furnishings” – either replacements for the original cedar for cigars or cigarettes, or upholstered as a jewellery box which might have a broader appeal?

It’s likely sale price is 60-80% of scrap and sterling is .925 of scrap or spot. So if you have a pair of scales you can work it out. Hinge repair, if needed, is about $150 and the cedar might run you twice that or you can go down to Home Depot and find a piece of kiln-cured red cedar and put it in a drawer for a decade then cut and sand to size yourself. I did one last year, no gluing just slotting the bits together. Today it’s cannabis rather than tobacco users that pays the top dollar and they might want maple or walnut rather than cedar lining. I suppose its the sort of inquiry your friendly neighbourhood weed shack might help yoi with.

CRWW