posted 03-18-2002 03:32 PM            

Gorham Confronts the Modern
prented by: Samuel J. Hough, Authority on Gorham Silver

Mr. Hough took this lecture as an opportunity to stage a protest against Gorham and its parent company Brown-Forman. Apparently, Brown-Forman has decided to move the Gorham design library to another site effectively taking it out of the hands and accessibility of Mr. Hough. Mr. Hough speculates that the records are bound for destruction and his protest consisted of showing no slides with his lecture.

Despite the lack of slides, Mr. Hough gave a stimulating discussion of how Gorham went from a leader in its industry to a shadow of its former self at the beginning of the twenty first century. He described the great pride that all Gorham employees had in the company and the product. He explained that the move to simpler styles circa 1910 found Gorham unprepared with heavy inventory in the more complex patterns such as Mythologique and Baronial. Gorham battled back by extending its distribution channel to department stores in the early 1920's. In 1925 Gorham hired Erik Magnussen, a Danish silversmith, to help stimulate demand and provide new design direction. He left in 1929. J. Russell Price was later hired as design director and sent to Europe for two years to study and again provide some new design direction. He left Gorham in 1952 but returned again in 1963. Mr. Hough brought to light a number of high points for Gorham during the twentieth century such as the commission for the U.S.S. Long Beach, the first atomic powered cruiser of the U.S. Navy. However, the outlook appears grim for this famous silver manufacturer. Mr. Hough estimates that the massive Rhode Island factory will be closed within two years.