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Murray, Spink & Co.
Jobbers of Fancy Goods,
Show Cases in Large Variety,
26, 28, & 30 Pine Street, & 26 Hay Street,
Providence, R.I.

MURRAY, SPINK & CO., Importers and Jobbers of Fancy Goods, Nos. 26, 28 and 30 Pine Street and No. 30 Hay Street. -- This immense business dates its inception back to 1852, when it was founded by Messrs. Burrington & Hutchins, who developed most important interests and far-reaching connections, which their successors have built upon to great advantage. They were succeeded by the firm of Hutchins & Murray and in 1878 the present firm was organized by Messrs. P. S. Murray, G. A. Spink, H. K. Blanchard and H. A. Young. A more competent body of business men are rarely combined in an organization of this nature. They brought to bear every qualification for the business and have ever retained the confidence and esteem of the commercial world. They are direct importers and leading jobbers of fancy goods, notions and novelties, handling watches and clocks gold and plated jewelry, ladies' and gents' furnishing goods, show cases and Yankee notions in great variety, and are also extensive manufacturers of cigars, being owners of the Standard Cigar Factory, and are agents for Young Brothers' paper boxes, used by jewelers. Their establishment is eligibly located, at Nos. 26, 28 and 30 Pine Street and No. 30 Hay Street, and comprises a splendid five-story building, 80 x 100 feet in dimensions, the internal arrangements of which are thoroughly perfect and complete, rendering the house a model emporium of its kind. This firm have the finest opportunities as buyers in the markets of both America and Europe. They take advantage of every fluctuation in prices, of all the great trade sales and forced offerings of mills and commission houses, and are, unquestionably, the best prepared of any house in this section of the country to offer the latest novelties and choicest goods at the most moderate prices. Their stock always includes the newest styles, shades and patterns in ladies' and gents' furnishings, such as ladies' silk hose, unbleached Balbriggan hosiery, opera hose, gentlemen's silk and cotton hosiery, merino half hose and bicycle hose; men's white shirts, silk outing shirts, night shirts, flannel and overshirts; gentlemen's linen collars and cuffs, waterproof celluloid collars and cuffs, gentlemen's silk scarfs in Tecks, puffs and four-in-hands; white silk and satin neckwear white lawn ties; suspenders and braces, garters and hose supporters; lawn tennis and yachting shirts, in English worsted and flannel; traveling bags and cases, wallets and pocketboods, and leather goods generally; fine quality neck ruche, ruffling and veilings, black and white laces; ladies' and gents' silk and linen hankerchiefs, Hamburg embroideries and nainsock edgings, lawn and Lonsdale aprons, embroidered piques and tuckings, lace tidies and pillow shams, toilet scarfs and covers, and satin pincushions; merino and woolen underwear, including the most desirable shapes and fabrics, of foreign and domestic makes; ladies' gauze vests, men's gauze underwear, bathing outfits, corsets, and notions in great profusion. The watch, clock and jewelry departments include all that is rich, rare, artistic and decorative, as well as serviceable in those lines, and the firm's stock of gold jewelry is unrivaled in the city and covers every possible form and device for personal adornment. The stock is noticeable for elegance of design and careful finish in every minute detail, and in sets, half and quarter sets and single articles, such as rings, lace and shawl pins, brooches, necklaces, bracelets, chains and ornaments, the requirements of all classes of buyers can be promptly gratified. In plated jewelry the assortments are equally extensive and desirable. The department devoted to watches in one of large size, containing hundreds of the finest imported and domestic movements in all desirable casings and including the most expensive chronometers and repeaters made. The styles embrace massive cases and smaller sizes, plain, etched, chased and decorated in scores of new designs. Here are also clocks in marble, bronze and ormulu; high-art glass from Vienna, decorated china wares, fancy porcelains and artistic pottery, bronze statues and ornaments, and a great array of fancy brass goods. Here are the most beautiful fans of ivory and other material, decorated with precious stones and richly mounted; and umbrellas in all the novel styles, easels and pedestals, and scores of foreign novelties, unique in design and ornamentation. The two upper floors of the building are devoted to the manufacture of cigars, where a force of eighty skilled hands is constantly employed. The cigars are all hand-made, in the most careful, cleanly manner, and the leading brands are, without exception, the most popular of any in the fine American trade. The firm are direct importers of the best growths of Havana leaf, and of Sumatra leaf for wrappers; allow no inferior tobacco in their factory, nor any but the most skillful cigarmakers, and, under vigilant supervision, the result is a perfect cigar, one that all lovers of the fragrant leaf enjoy and always call for. It is, therefore, a very judicious thing for tobacconists, hotels, restaurants and jobbers to keep the cigars in stock. Messrs. Murray, Spink & Co. send out a corps of expert salesmen on the road and sell to the trade throughout all the New England and Middle States. With their splendid facilities and connections they are in a position to guarantee the prompt and perfect fulfillment of all orders and to make their terms and prices invariably satisfactory to buyers in every line. We know of no firm more satisfactorily constituted for success in this business, and none, certainly, which more worthily stands betwixt the producers and dealers in this multifarious line of goods.

Industries and Wealth of the Principal Points in Rhode Island, being the city of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Newport, Narragansett Pier, Bristol & Westerly.
New York: A. F. Parsons Publishing Co., 1892, page 98




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