The William B. Durgin Company (1853 - 1924) was a noted American sterling silver manufacturer based in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

, and one of the largest flatware and hollowware manufacturers in the United States. Over the period 1905-1924 it was merged into the Gorham Manufacturing Company. The company was founded by silversmith William Butler Durgin (July 29, 1833 - May 6, 1905). Durgin was born in Campton, New Hampshire, and from 1849-1853 apprenticed to Boston silversmith Newell Harding. In the 1840s Durgin moved back to Concord, where he opened a small shop making spoons opposite the Free Bridge Road. He incorporated as William B. Durgin Company in 1853, in 1854 added the manufacture of silverware, and in 1866 established a large brick factory on School Street. In 1905, after the death of both Durgin and his son, George F. Durgin, the company was acquired by Gorham through a long process that culminated with an official purchase in 1924. Production was moved to Providence, Rhode Island, in 1931. The company made the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

, the silver service for the battleship USS ''New Hampshire'', and medals for St. Paul's School. Its Fairfax flatware was for some years the best-selling pattern in the United States. Other of the company's patterns included Bead, Chatham, Chrysanthemum, Cromwell, Dauphin, English Rose, Essex, Fairfax, Hunt Club, Iris, Lenox, Louis XV, Madame Royale, Marechal Niel, New Vintage, Orange Blossom, Sheaf of Wheat, Victorian/Sheraton, and Watteau.

References

* ''William B. Durgin Co., Family Genealogy and Durgin Company History'', Robert M. Wilhelm, American Spoon Collectors, 2014. * ''A Catalogue of the Fairfax Sterling Silver Flatware: Designed, Patented, and Manufactured Solely by William B. Durgin Co., Concord, New Hampshire'', William B. Durgin Company. * ''Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers'', Dorothy T. Rainwater, Schiffer Pub., 1986, page 51. * ''Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor'', Charles Lane Venable, Dallas Museum of Art, 1995, page 318. * "He Might Have Become a Successful Farmer", in ''The Granite State Monthly'', Volume 57, Otis Grant Hammond, Granite Monthly Co., 1925.
"The Farm Boy Who Built New Hampshire's Only Silver Industry: Concord's William Butler Durgin (1833-1935)"
Cow Hampshire.
"Durgin Sterling Silverware Company - A Brief History"
I Collect Sterling.
"William B. Durgin Company"
photographs, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

American Sterling Silver Marks.

Silver Matching Company.
"William B. Durgin Company, 1915"
New Hampshire Historical Society. {{DEFAULTSORT:Durgin Company, William B. American silversmiths