Fairfax by Gorham-Durgin Sterling Silver Kettle on Stand Marked #04

In its heyday, the Durgin Silver Company was one of the largest sterling silver flatware and hollowware manufacturers in the United States. Responsible for the trailblazing Fairfax pattern — one of the most popular patterns in the U.S. for a time during the early 20th century — Durgin Silver established a reputation for quality and durability.

The company was founded in 1853 in Concord, New Hampshire, by William Butler Durgin. Born to a farming family in Campton, New Hampshire, in 1833, Durgin grew up learning about farming from his parents. To their dismay, he decided life as a farmer wasn’t for him, and he shifted his focus to jewelry. 

Durgin left Campton for Boston, where openings in the jewelry trade were scarce at the time. Undaunted, he became an apprentice to a silversmith named Newell Harding. In his second year as an apprentice, however, Durgin fell ill and returned to New Hampshire, settling in Concord. After he recovered, Durgin established his eponymous company.

Over the next 50 years, the Durgin Silver Company earned accolades for its role as one of the finest producers of sterling silverware in America. From its large brick factory in Concord, the firm manufactured exquisite tableware, serving pieces, tea sets and home decor such as candleholders. Its variety of elegant patterns, including Chatham, Chrysanthemum, English Rose, Louis XV, Victorian, Orange Blossom and the aforementioned Fairfax, were extraordinarily popular.

In 1878, Durgin’s son George Francis, who had learned silversmithing from his father, became a partner and the company enjoyed considerable success around the turn of the 20th century. Among their clients were the Packard Motor Company, the Davis Cup, the National Cash Register Company and the battleship U.S.S. New Hampshire, for which they made a 72-piece silver service and bell.

Durgin died in 1905 of cystitis and pneumonia, and tragically, George died soon afterward. That year, Durgin Silver became a division of another well-known American silver firm, the Gorham Silver Manufacturing Company. Today, Durgin Silver remains highly coveted among collectors of American silver. 

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