Gorham Manufacturing Company - Major Commissions

Major Commissions

The White House has used Gorham silver services during many administrations. Mary Todd Lincoln purchased an impressive tea and flatware service for use in the White House in 1859. The tea service was presented to the National Museum of American History in 1957. Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant asked Gorham to commemorate the country's one-hundredth anniversary with a spectacular Century Vase that contained over 2,000 ounces of sterling silver, and a grand "loving cup" composed of 70,000 dimes was designed for Admiral George Dewey in 1899. The largest single commission Gorham ever received was the famous Furber service. Ordered by Colonel Henry Jewett Furber, the president of Universal Life Insurance Company of New York, the opulent 740-piece service represents Victorian era dining at its most elaborate. The monumental silver and parcel-gilt "Neptune" epergne made for Furber as part of this service was displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. A large portion of the service now can be viewed at the Rhode Island School of Design as part of its exhibit on American decorative arts. The George W. Bush family chose Gorham's Chantilly as the flatware service on Air Force One.

Gorham artisans also sculpted the famous monument of George Washington in the Capitol's Rotunda, the statue of Theodore Roosevelt that overlooks the Museum of Natural History in New York, and the famous "Independent Man" which tops Rhode Island's state house.

Gorham designed a number of elaborate trophies for sporting events, including the Borg-Warner Trophy for the Indianapolis 500, designed by Robert J. Hill.