Background
Hurd was born in Boston, Massachussets, in 1730, a descendant of John Hurd who settled in Charlestown, Massachussets, in 1639. His father was Jacob Hurd, a silversmith of Boston; his mother was Elizabeth Mason.
Hurd was born in Boston, Massachussets, in 1730, a descendant of John Hurd who settled in Charlestown, Massachussets, in 1639. His father was Jacob Hurd, a silversmith of Boston; his mother was Elizabeth Mason.
Nathaniel followed his father's trade and was the latter's successor in a flourishing business. Trained by his father to engrave on silver and gold, he began at an early age to experiment on copper, and at nineteen he executed a bookplate for Thomas Dering which is still in existence. In 1762 he engraved a cartoon of two counterfeiters who were objects of popular interest of their day. In the same year he advertised in the Boston Evening Post his engravings of the King and his minister "fit for a Picture, or for Gentlemen and Ladies to put in their Watches. " He also made a portrait of the Rev. Joseph Sewall.
With the exception of these few portraits and an occasional lodge emblem, his engraving on copper was confined chiefly to bookplates, the most famous of which was made for Harvard College. His usual advertisement, such as that in the Boston Gazette for Apr. 28, 1760, announced that he did "Goldsmith's Work, likewise engraves in Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass, and Steel, in the neatest Manner, and at reasonable Rates. " In his bookplates he used the same device repeatedly, an escutcheon with a shell at its base, from which water is flowing. His silver was marked "N. Hurd" in shaded Roman letters in a rectangle, or in a shaped rectangle, or in very small letters in a cartouche.
