ANTIQUE WILLIAM B. DURGIN CO. FAMOUS SILVER SMITH STOCK CERTIFICATE BOOK

Description

YOU ARE BIDDING ON AN EXTREMELY RARE ANTIQUE WILLIAM B. DURGIN CO. FAMOUS SILVER SMITH STOCK CERTIFICATE BOOK. IT HAS MANY FAMOUS SIGNATURES INSIDE INCLUDING JOHN BEACH ABBOTT
The
William B. Durgin Company
(1853 - 1924) was a noted American
sterling silver
manufacturer based in
Concord, New Hampshire
, 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 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.
John Beach Abbott
(December 31, 1854 - January 17, 1935) was the first president of the Livingston County Bar Association in Western, New York. He was a New York county judge, a State Democratic Leader, and one of the founding members of the Delphic
Fraternity at the Geneseo State Normal School (today SUNY
Geneseo.)
John B. Abbott, Esq., was born in Dansville,
Livingston County, New York
on December 31, 1854. He was the son of prominent attorney J. Beach Abbott. The younger Abbott attended the Geneseo State
Normal School
then the
University of Rochester
. Abbott completed his law studies and was admitted to the
New York State Bar Association
in 1880. He worked with his father at the Rochester law firm of Abbott & Abbott until the senior Abbott died in 1898.
In 1906 John Beach Abbott was named the first president of the Livingston County Bar Association and remained a member of the association until six month before his death in 1935.
Abbott was a member of the Geneseo Club where he was active in educational work, and for more than 20 years he was president of the Board of Education. He was also a long-time member of the Board of Visitors of the Geneseo State Normal School.
In 1914 Abbott was appointed a Livingston County Court Judge. Abbott served as Geneseo's postmaster (1888–90) under the
Cleveland Administration
, was a Presidential Elector in 1932, and at one time he was president of the Livingston County Democratic Committee.
Abbott was married and had no children. He lost his wife four years prior to his death. After two years of ill health, he died at the age of 80 at his home in Geneseo on Thursday, January 17, 1935.
John S. Holbrook
Was the President of the Gorham Co. until his death in 1920