Early Colonial India?

[Wayan]

Greetings from Bali to all silver lovers.

I am hoping that someone can help me pin down the hallmarks on this silver loving cup. It’s about 13 inches in height and dates from the first third of the 19th century. It’s a classic English (Georgian) style.

I'm wondering about it possibly being colonial India? The British were in India for two hundred years and a lot of silver was produced in India for the English market. The hallmark system did not follow that of Britain, even when the silver makers were British owned firms.

The first mark looks like a duty mark on English made silver. I wonder if it’s almost a pun, for example some Raja of India? The second mark looks like a date letter, and it’s very close to these: London for 1840, Birmingham for 1828, Chester for 1843, Exeter for 1841, Edinburgh for either 1836 or 1838, or Glasgow for 1849.

The next two marks have me totally stumped.

I’ve ruled out Hanau (known for its pseudo hallmarks) but only because of its form.



Any ideas would be greatly appreciated and many thanks in advance!

Kind regards, Wayan

[dognose]

Hi Wayan,

Welcome to the Forum.

I've orientated your mark image just in case something in it jogs someone's memory.





Is it possible the the third mark from the left in your original image is a Chinese character?

Regards Trev.

[Wayan]

Thanks Trev,

That was a good idea to change the orientation. I never thought of that.

That mark is so worn I can’t tell if it’s a Chinese character or not.

Early Chinese export would seem to be possible as well. As an old friend once said to me, “if only these things could talk!”