Nathaniel Hurd

  General notes:

Silversmith and engraver

  Events in his life were:

• Alternate Mark

• Apprenticed from circa 1742 to 1751 to Jacob Hurd in Boston MA ¹

• Bookplate, 1749
Private Collection
Originally cut for Thomas Dering, the plate was later re-cut with the name of his son, Henry Packer Dering. At least thirty-five other ex libris by his hand are known.

• Teapot, 1755-1760
Boston Museum of Fine Arts ⁸
h 6¼" (including finial)
d: 3 3/8" (base)
wt: 19 oz, 7½ dwt
Engraved with Stoddard arms for John and Prudence (Chester) Stoddard.

• Cream bucket, c 1755
Worchester Art Museum
h: 3¼"
d: 2 1/8"
Engraved RS for Rebecca Salisbury

• Appointed from 1759 to 1761 as Clerk of the market in Boston MA ⁴

• Appointed from 1760 to 1761 as Scavenger of Ninth Ward in Boston MA ⁴

• He worked from 1760 to 1777 as a silversmith and engraver in Boston MA ⁴

• Advertised in the Boston Gazette (Boston MA), 28 Apr 1760, that he had moved his shop ". . . from McCarty's Corner, on the Exchange, to the back part of the opposite Brick Building where Mr. Ezekiel Price Kept his Office. Where he continues to do all sorts of Goldsmith's work. Likewise engraves Gold, Silver, Copper Brass, and Steel, in the neatest Manner, and at reasonable Rates." ³

• Milk pot, c 1760
Winterthur Library ²¹
h: 3 5/16"
wt: 3 oz, 16 dwt
Engraved L over D I for Daniel and Jerusha (Talcott) Lathrop. Also engraved C over D E for Daniel and Elizabeth (Bill) Coit.

• Boston MA, 1762: made two salvers debited in Paul Revere's account book. ³

• Table of coins and weights, c 1765
Memorial Hall Deerfield MA ¹⁷

• Portrait by John Singleton Copley, c 1765
Cleveland Museum of Fine Art
This is Copley's first portrait to show a sitter in informal clothes. It's not surprising to learn that Hurd was a Patriot in the American Revolution and opposed to inherited wealth and privilege. No doubt he preferred to be shown in this informal way because he was a craftsman who worked with his hands. Notably, Hurd's large, expressive hands play a prominent role in the painting. Nonetheless, the fact that he surrounded himself with books makes it clear that he is not simply a manual worker, but a man of education and intelligence. The books resting beside Hurd's hands are ones he consulted in his work. The large one is Guillim's Display of Heraldry (to which Hurd often referred when he made bookplates or engraved silver vessels) and the smaller probably Sympson's "New Book of Cyphers ..." of 1726, both of which might well have belonged to his father. Moreover, his gown is not really workman's attire, but the imported silk dressing gown of a wealthy aristocrat or merchant.

• Portrait by John Singleton Copley, c 1765
Memorial Art Gallery Rochester NY

• Label, c 1765
Private Collection
Engraved for the cabinetmaker, Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown.

• Portrait of Rev Joseph Sewall, 1768
Boston MA ²⁶

• Tradecard, c 1771
American Antiquarian Society
Engraved for Henry Knox

• Bill for engraving services, 16 Jun 1773, Boston MA ²⁶.

Thos. Fayerweather Esq., to Nat. Hurd, Dr.
To taking out Crest from Salts & putting in New	£1. / 4. / –
To Mend'g Sauce pan & can	– / 12. / –
To Large Crest on Sauce pan	– / 12. / –
To taking out Arms from Coffee pott and y're arms in	2. / 5. / –
O. tenor	£4. / 13. / –
Received the above in full.	Nath. Hurd.

• Tradecard
Worchester Art Museum
Engraved for Ziphion Thayer

• He became particularly proficient as an engraver and styled himself "Goldsmith & Engraver" in his will. Revere's account book of 1762 debited Hurd for "2 small scolop'd Salvers," a chafing dish, a pair of canns, a silver frame for a picture, and, uniquely, a "Silver Indian Pipe." The following year, "mending a Picture frame" and making a snuff box complete the transactions, for which payment was prompt. Hurd cut a variety of plates for Harvard College, and a table of coins which must have been helpful to his contemporaries. He cut for James Breck, who dedicated the view to the Hon. Thomas Hubbard, a "South Prospect of the Court House, Boston" published for the first time in R.I. 1965. He died unmarried in 1777 leaving among other bequests to "Brother Benj'n Hurd £30 in tools, cloathes & some money"; to his brother-in-law "J^no Furnass ... my Volume of the Universal Dictionary of Arts & Sciences," and to his nephew "J^no Mason Furnass ... my large printing press & some tools in consideration for the love I bear to him & the genius he discovers for the same business which I have followed & to which I intended to have brought him up to." The residue of his estate was divided between Benjamin Hurd and his sisters, Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Henchman, and Ann, wife of John Furnass. ⁸