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A Trailblazer in Silversmithing

Elizabeth Godfrey was one of the most prominent female silversmiths in 18th-century Britain when men dominated the trade. Her exceptional craftsmanship, entrepreneurial spirit, and artistry earned her acclaim in her own time and secured her legacy as a pioneer in...

Juan Godoy (1801-1842) was a Chilean prospector who made significant contributions to Chile's mining industry. He was born in the small town of Copiapó and grew up in a family of miners. Juan Godoy inherited his father's passion for mining and began working in the industry at a young...

Established in 1831 in Rhode Island, as a coin-silver flatware and jewelery manufacturer, Gorham eventually became one of the largest silversmiths in the world. By the late 1860s, they grossed $1 million in sales per year. Gorham was tremendously successful with flatware patterns like Chantilly,...

Born: 1824, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: December 19, 1857, California, USA (age 33)

The brothers, Ethan and Hosea, were sons of Reverend Aaron B. Grosh, a Universalist minister. They were raised with strong intellectual and moral values, which shaped their adventurous and entrepreneurial spirits....

Born: 1826, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: September 2, 1857, Gold Canyon, Nevada Territory (age 31)

The brothers, Ethan and Hosea, were sons of Reverend Aaron B. Grosh, a Universalist minister. They were raised with strong intellectual and moral values, which shaped their adventurous and...

The Spanish conquest of South America led to the discovery of Peruvian mountains rich in gold and silver. In April, 1545, high up in the Andes, an Indian named Diego Gualapa climbed a distinctively shaped conical peak in search of a rumoured Indian shrine. Such shrines frequently contained some...

Sequoyah was the creator of the Cherokee writing system. Believed to be the son of a Virginia fur trader named Nathaniel, he was raised by his Cherokee mother, Wuh-teh of the Paint clan, in the Tennessee country. He never learned to speak, read, or write English. He was an accomplished...

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Daniel Guggenheim was sent to Switzerland as a young man to study the Swiss lace and embroidery business, and to serve as a buyer for his father's import firm. The discovery of high-grade silver-lead ore in the Guggenheim mines in Leadville, Colorado in 1881...

Meyer Guggenheim was born in Lengnau, Aargau, Switzerland on February 1, 1828. He was of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and emigrated to the United States in 1847. He started out in the importing business, but made his and his family's fortune (which was one of the largest fortunes of the 19th...