From goldsmith to merchant: the craft and commerce of Benjamin Greene
Date
1996
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The account books and ledgers of Benjamin Greene (1713-1776), a Boston goldsmith and merchant, span the entirety of his career from 1734 to 1776. Although Benjamin trained as a goldsmith, he spent the majority of his life as a merchant, involved in local and regional trade as well as the North American coastal trade and the transatlantic carrying trade. An analysis of Greene's account books reveals the evolution of his career, the type of goldsmithing work he performed, the reasons for his decision to enter trade, and the areas and commodities he dealt in as a merchant. ☐ During the early years of his career, Benjamin Greene, who retailed a small portion of the silver that he fashioned, worked mainly as a jobber producing large quantities of small items for other Boston jewelers and goldsmiths. After abandoning this craft during the late 1740s, Benjamin Greene became involved in trade with North Carolina, England, and Boston, investing heavily in naval stores, rum, molasses, and European manufactured goods. In 1763 Greene switched the focus of his business from North Carolina to New England, and dealt primarily in potash and pearl-ash, which he exported to England. During his career, Greene was also involved for short periods in the whaling trade, the African slave trade, and the West Indian trade. ☐ The example that Benjamin Greene provides of an eighteenth-century Boston goldsmith and merchant illuminates issues pertaining to the positions of colonial artisans and merchants. His accounts reveal collaboration between Boston goldsmiths, the importance of family connections and friendships to the development of businesses, and the types of trade networks that existed in and out of Boston. ☐ Benjamin Greene's eight account books survive today at the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Boston Public Library.