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Example of the work of the yet to be identified silversmith 'HY' of Kelantan:
The script mark which is in Jawi, an Arabic script used in Malaysia, the script translates to the word is Kelantan, a state in northern Malaysia which has a tradition of silverwork.
For a similar example of marking, see above post for Mohd Salleh & Sons Silver Crafts.
118 Ramlee Mall
1st Floor Suria KLCC
Kuala Lumpur City Centre 50088
Kuala Lumpur
4 Jalan Usahawan 6
Setapak Jaya 53300
Kuala Lumpur
Lot S5 2nd Floor
Bangsar Shopping Centre
285 Jalan Maarof
Bukit Bandaraya 59000
Kuala Lumpur
A famous English maker's mark, but these days, it is accompanied with a different hallmark:
The well-known firm of silversmiths, William Comyns & Sons was acquired by the Malaysian business Royal Selangor in 1993. Its products are now made in Malaysia, and are no longer marked with London's Leopard's Head, but the Cougar’s Head of the Kuala Lumpur Assay.
The most skilful living bronze worker in Japan, and one of the most skilful of workers in metal that Japan has ever possessed, is said by the Japan Mail to be a Kujoto artisan, named Zoroku. His specialty is inlaying with silver and gold, an art which he carries to such perfection that his pieces are scarcely distinguishable from the chef-d'oeuvres of the Miu period. What one sees on going into his atelier is a very old man–about sixty-five or seventy–peering through a pair of huge horn spectacles at a tiny incense-burner, or still tinier flower vase, from whose frets and diapers he is paring away, with marvellous patience an almost imperceptible roughness or excresence. Beside him, winter and summer alike, stands a brazier with a slow charcoal fire, over which an iron netting supports one or two bronze vessels similar to that he holds in his hand. Plainly, these bronzes are being subjected to a slow process of baking, and if you watch for a moment, marvelling at the purpose of a proceeding which seems only calculated to mar the fair surface of the metal, you shall presently see the old man dip a feather into a vessel filled with greenish liquor, and touch the heated bronze here and there with the most delicate and dexterous care. This liquid is acetate of copper, and this patient process, which you see repeated perhaps twenty or thirty times during a visit of twice as many minutes, will be continued in the same untiling fashion for half-a-year to come ; after which a month's rubbing and polishing will turn out a bronze, rich in green and russet tints, that might; and, indeed, must, you would fancy, have been produced by centimes of slowly-toiling time.
Source: The Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith - 5th July 1881
Heng Li is thought to have been operating in Tientsin during the period 1880-1920. (The Collectors' Guide to Chinese Export Silver - 1785-1940 - 3rd Edition 2013 - Adrien Von Ferscht)
Example of the work of the yet to be identified silversmith 'HN' of Kelantan:
The script mark which is in Jawi, an Arabic script used in Malaysia, the script translates to the word is Kelantan, a state in northern Malaysia which has a tradition of silverwork.
For a similar example of marking, see above post for Mohd Salleh & Sons Silver Crafts, and the yet to be identified 'HY', both of Kelantan.
This business is perhaps to be identified with either or both of the firms of Yamato Bros. & Co. of Kobe, and Yamato & Co. of Singapore (see above posts for both businesses).
The bankrupt was a watchmaker in Gallowgate, Glasgow, and sometime carrying on business in Shanghai, Montrose and Renfrew. There were present Mr John Wilson, C.A., trustee; and Mr James Dunbar, writer, agent in the sequestration.
The bankrupt deponed - I first commenced business in Peterhead as a watchmaker and jeweller about the year 1859. I had capital of about £25 then, £15 of which was my own savings, and £10 of which was borrowed from friends. I left Peterhead in May 1864. I had then clear capital of £350. I went from Peterhead to Shanghai in China, where I commenced business as a watchmaker and jeweller, and also a general agent. During part of 1864 and 1865 I consider that I made money in carrying on of these businesses. After that, in 1866, I lost money by different speculations. Amongst other losses I made there was one of £350 through the failure of Dalbeck, Smith & Co. of Shanghai. I consider that my losses from February to August, 1866, amounted to about £1500. In the latter month I gave up business in Shanghai, and returned to this country. When I left Shanghai I considered that I had about £680 worth of goods and cash. About £400 of this was goods, and I had in addition to the sum above stated a valuable assortment of tools. I was owing a debt of £300 to Mr Hugh Connell, jeweller, Glasgow, when I left Shanghai for goods that he had shipped to me there. This sum of £300 should be deducted from the £680. Out of the money that I had I paid for my passage home and travelling expenses about £120. I packed up the goods belonging to me in Shanghai, and left them in charge of Mackenzie & Co. there, who shipped them on board the Westminster, bound for London, in Sept., 1866, which vessel was lost shortly after on the coast of China, and so were all my goods. I received a telegram from the owners of that vessel intimating the shipment of my goods, the loss of the vessel, and also that my goods had not been insured. After returning to this country I commenced business in Montrose in 1866 as a watchmaker and jeweller. I had £60 worth of capital when I commenced there, but I was still owing the debt to Mr Connell above referred to. When I was in Montrose Mr Connell called on me about this debt, and I arranged the debt with him afterwards by giving him a promissory note payable by instalments. I was really sole partner of the business in Montrose, but I might have said to Mr Connell that it was not mine, and that I was working for a weekly wage. I carried on business in Montrose till May, 1868, when, in consequence of a bill having been protested against me, I granted a trust deed for behoof of my creditors. I afterwards commenced business in Renfrew in Oct., 1868, and came to Glasgow in April, 1869, when I commenced business in partnership with David Rutherford; but he only continued with me about 10 or 12 days. I produce a statement accounting my deficiency, and showing the various losses I have sustained in the different places where I have been trading.
