Press Releases

Pease & Curren Refinery Celebrates 100 Years in Business

Published

8 years ago

January 6, 2016

INSTORE Staff

(Press Release)
WARWICK, RI – Pease & Curren, a precious metals refiner/recycler headquartered in Warwick, RI, celebrates 100 years in business as of January 2016.

The company was founded by Francis H. Curren and Charles Pease in 1916. The first refining job was melted in the basement furnace of Francis’ mother. Since its birth, Pease & Curren has weathered the Great Depression, World Wars I & II, the Vietnam War and the instability of the gold market.

Frances H. “Kip” Curren III, the third-generation owner and present-day CEO of the company, cites the dedication of the long-term employees as the reason why the business is so successful. “The employees are the life blood of any company; Pease & Curren’s employees are no exception,” Curren says. “Industry involvement is also important. My father and Robert Pease were founding members of the Jeweler’s Board of Trade and served on the boards of many other industry related organizations over the years. That helped us to maintain solid relationships in the industry.”

Today, Pease & Curren has customers in 50 states, Canada and Mexico. Customers include jewelry manufacturers, large and small retail jewelers, pawnshops and dental laboratories. The 40,000-square-foot facility boasts 25 custom designed incinerators, a dedicated melt room as well as a state-of-the-art laboratory. The company processes gold, silver, platinum and palladium and partners with customers to meet refining needs by understanding their business models and providing them the service of a tried-and-true, 100-year-old company.

Pease & Curren will be celebrating throughout the year with customers, employees, family and friends. In February, the company will host the West Point Ring Melt ceremony in the Warwick facility. The West Point Ring Melt is an event during which West Point graduates are memorialized with the donation of their class rings to be part of the gold in the class rings of the next graduating class. 2016 will mark the 15th year of the Pease & Curren partnership with West Point.

For the full Pease & Curren story which details interesting trends in gold over the years, see the firm’s blog at blog.peaseandcurren.com/gold-dust-gold-rush.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”