William Earl Richards (1874 – 1968) started his jewelry business in 1899, founding W. E. Richards & Co. Noteworthy, until April 1899 W.E. Richards worked as a bookkeeper of the Bay State Optical Company, Attleboro, Mass. Among the partners and founders of W. E. Richards & Co were George Dorchester, Raymond M. Horton and Chester A. Howard.

Initially located in the Bates building on Union Street, Attleboro, his jewelry workshop moved to the Simmons building, North Main Street in December 1905. Also, the firm’s New York office moved from 14 John Street to 9-13 Maiden Lane. Chester Howard was in charge of the New York office of W. E. Richards Co. Frank J. Ruggles headed Chicago office of the W. E. Richards Co for more than twenty years, until founding his jewelry company Ruggles & Co. In 1929 the New York office of W. E. Richards Co moved to 307 Fifth Avenue.

During World War II, the company lost its source of supply of real stones. Accordingly, the company’s jewelers began to use local natural and artificial stones along with the precious stones that remained in stock. Yet, they still created high-quality fine workmanship jewelry from precious metals. One of the prominent jewelers who worked for W. E. Richards & Co was Bernard J. Hershon (1876-1955).

W.E. Richards Jewelry Manufacturing Company History

A special place was occupied by filigree jewelry made of white and yellow gold marked Symmetalic, a trademark registered in 1936.

The legendary jewelry manufacturer with more than a century of history, W. E. Richards Company, 1362 County St., Attleboro, ceased to exist in 2007. The last head of the company was Richard A. Whitfield.