About Frank Smith
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Frank Wyman Smith was born on March 13, 1848, in Thornton, New Hampshire. As a boy, he found himself drawn into silversmithing through his uncle, William B. Durgin, a respected craftsman in Concord. Under Durgin’s watch, Frank learned the trade that would eventually carry his name far beyond New England.<br><br> By 1886, Smith had struck out on his own and opened the Frank W. Smith Silver Company in Gardner, Massachusetts. The town was in the middle of an industrial boom, and his workshop quickly grew. Within six years, demand pushed him to build a full-scale factory. Completed in 1892, the structure still stands, with its late Victorian commercial style, a tower topped by a pyramidal roof, and stained glass windows that caught the light from the busy streets below. It later earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places.<br><br> The company’s early rise wasn’t Smith’s work alone. In 1887, a Scottish silversmith named Arthur J. Stone joined as lead designer and supervisor. Stone balanced machine production with handmade artistry, shaping the company’s identity. He stayed long enough to leave his mark, then opened his own shop in Gardner in 1901, adding to the town’s reputation for fine silverwork.<br><br> Smith’s vision was simple: silver pieces should be useful, but they should also have beauty and weight that made them more than everyday tools. The company built patterns like American Chippendale, Chippendale-Old, Countess, and Woodlily, each of them prized for their design. Clients who could choose from the finest silversmiths in the world, including Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Grace of Monaco, chose Smith’s work for their own tables.<br><br> When Frank Smith died in 1904, his sons William and Frank Jr. took the reins. They guided the company through the shifts of the early twentieth century, and in 1917, incorporated it as Frank W. Smith Silver Co. Inc. The firm held its place for decades until 1958, when its assets—including machinery, patterns, and trademarks—were purchased by the Webster Company, a subsidiary of Reed & Barton. Some of the dies were also taken up by Towle Silversmiths, ensuring that Smith’s designs lived on in other workshops.<br><br> Collectors still seek out the company’s silver today. Each piece carries not only the weight of sterling but the history of a craftsman who started under his uncle’s eye, built a factory that defined a corner of Gardner, and left behind work that traveled to royal tables and endures in private collections.
