Hammill & Gillespie was established in 1848 by James P. Hammill (in what is now Manhattan’s historic South Street Seaport) as an importer of Bath Brick, a low-fired material from England, used for polishing metal. Joined in 1871 by Frederick R. Gillespie, the product line expanded to ceramics and other industrial applications. In this century, the business has steadily expanded to become a widely-admired supplier of clays and mineral products to American and international industry, with customers and suppliers on five continents. The company’s reputation for sales service and comprehensive technical expertise has earned us a loyal base of customers, some of whom have been doing business with us for more than a century.

Hammill & Gillespie is an international supplier and consolidator of specialty clays and non-metallic minerals. We serve the ceramics, investment casting, refractories, and paint industries to single out just a few. Our product-lines reflect the broad spectrum of industries represented by our customers. Under the heading ‘Clays’, we supply materials for industries ranging from fine china and technical ceramics to fillers and extenders in polymer systems, opacifiers and rheology modifiers in paints and for varied uses in cosmetics.

To meet these demands, our warehouses stock a wide variety of china clays, ball clay, fire clay and other specialty components in a diverse array of physical and chemical characteristics. We also stock a similarly varied line of feldspars, flint, refractory fillers, silicates, carbonates, pigments and opacifiers to meet a broad range of applications in the glass, ceramics and metallurgy industries.