• Born: 13 Feb 1729, Boston MA
• Died: 17 Dec 1777, Boston MA

  General notes:

Silversmith and engraver

  Events in his life were:

• Alternate Mark. ⁴

• Alternate Mark.

• Alternate Mark.

• Apprenticed: Jacob Hurd, circa 1742-1751, in Boston MA. ¹

• Example: Bookplate, in 1749, in 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.

• Example: Teapot, in 1755-1760, in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. H 6 1/4" (including finial)
  d: 3 3/8" (base)
  wt: 19 oz, 7 1/2 dwt
  Engraved with Stoddard arms for John and Prudence (Chester) Stoddard. ¹⁰

• Example: Cream bucket, circa 1755, in Worcester Art Museum. H: 3 1/4"
  d: 2 1/8"
  Engraved RS for Rebecca Salisbury

• Appointed: Clerk of the market, in 1759-1761, in Boston MA. ⁴

• Appointed: Scavenger of Ninth Ward, in 1760-1761, in Boston MA. ⁴

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

• Example: Milk pot, circa 1760, in Winterthur Library. 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. ⁷

• Example: Tankard, circa 1760, in Private Collection. H: 8 3/4"
  wt: 28 oz
  Engraved on the front with a bird surmounting an unidentified coat of arms (possibly the Newhall family of Concord) within a rococo cartouche, surrounded by a cornucopia and flower sprays.

• Advertised: Boston Gazette, on 28 Apr 1760, in Boston MA. 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

• Flynt & Fales: 1762, in Boston MA. Made two salvers debited in Paul Revere's account book. ³

• Master: Joseph Callender, about 1764, in Boston MA.

• Example: Table of coins and weights, circa 1765, in Memorial Hall Deerfield MA. ²⁰

• Portrait: John Singleton Copley, circa 1765, in 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: John Singleton Copley, circa 1765, in Memorial Art Gallery Rochester NY.

• Example: Engraved bookplate, in Private Collection. L: 4 1/4"
  w: 2 7/8"
  Engraved with a coat-of-arms, crest and motto above the name "Francis Dana"

• Example: Label, circa 1765, in Private Collection. Engraved for the cabinetmaker, Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown.

• Example: Sauce boat, circa 1765, in Private Collection. H: 4 1/2"
  w: 7" (including handle)
  wt: 12.5 oz

• Example: Portrait of Rev Joseph Sewall, in 1768, in Boston MA. ²⁶

• Example: Tradecard, circa 1771, in American Antiquarian Society. Engraved for Henry Knox

• General: Bill for engraving services, on 16 Jun 1773, in Boston MA.
  
  

  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.

  ²⁶

• Example: Tradecard, in Worcester Art Museum. Engraved for Ziphion Thayer

• Buhler. 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. ¹⁰