| Nathaniel Hurd | |
| Occupation: | engraver and silversmith |
| Birth Place: | Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
| Death Place: | Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
| Birth Date: | 13 February 1730 |
Nathaniel Hurd (13 February 1730 – 17 December 1777)[1] [2] is recognized as the first American engraver and a silversmith in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 18th century. He engraved "bookplates ... heraldic devices, seals, ... paper currency, and business cards" along with die engravers and engravers on copper.[3] [4]
Hurd's grandfather had come from England and settled in Charlestown. He died in 1749 at the age of 70.
Hurd's father was Jacob Hurd, a leading Boston silversmith, whose works are in the collections of the Peabody Essex Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Strawbery Banke Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Jacob Hurd married a daughter of John Mason (of Kingston, Jamaica who died in 1758).
An obituary from Amos Doolittle noted Hurd was the first to have engraved copper in the USA.
The lion rampant logo for Phillips Exeter Academy is taken from a bookplate Hurd designed for John Phillips in 1775.[5]
Hurd died on 17 Dec 1777 and is buried in the old Granary Burial Ground in Boston.
Examples of Hurd's work are in the collections of Harvard University; Yale University; Historic Deerfield;[6] the Lexington Historical Society; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.