The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-11-13
What Becomes of Foreign Gold

GA gold coin is worth its value the
world over" said an official at the mint
yesterday.
But scvcreigns and napoleons do not
circulate in this country. What, then,
becomes of them after they get here
If any one were to ask this question
in the assayer's department of the mint
they would be apt to receive information
that might slightly surprise them.
Come in here, said the mint official,
yesterday, leading the way nto little
strong walled chamber, without single
window in it, looking much, in the dim
light of the Gas, like an enlarged edition
of safe. There were hundreds of chunks
of smooth, bright yellow metal piled up
on half dozen small trucks. These
chunks varied in size. One might be
lifted with one hand. Another would
require two hands. Others could not be
lifted at all.
"There," said the official, placing one
of the latter into the visitors hands,
''lift that" 1t was gifted" accordingly.
1t was a good lift, too. "There are
about IS 900 in that piece" said the
official. "Move that truck once" he
said, with sly expression of counter
ance.
The most vigorous effort that could be
mustered up failed to make it bulge.
Upon it lay 20 or 50 of those shining
chunks of metal,
"There are about 100000 worth of
metal in what you see here-yes, over
two million These have been chiefly
English sovereigns and French napoleons.
They came here from the government
assay Office in New York, where they are
melted up. Exporters receive them, you
see, in payment for goods, and send them
to brokers, who in turn send them to the
assay Office, where they get American
gold coin for them
Further talk showed that the gov
eminent is accommodating enough to
exchange for the foreign money either
American coin or gold bricks, or gold
in whatever shape the owner of the coin
might desire OF course this has moth
inc to do with the transactions of the
American exporter, who wants what he
can make Immediately available to the
wants of his business the gold dollar
All the foreign coin thus received ii
New York at least the bulk OF it
goes to the assayer's office there for eX
change. Here the clock work method
that characterizes oil the government de
partments steps in. Not single foreign
coin of all the millions that 90 there
yearly is ''passed" or paid for until It's
value is ascertalned. To do this In
wolves some work. Weight and quality
are the things sought. 1t is first
weighed, then put in a pot and melted.
Sometimes the pot absorbs some part Of
it and then it has to be broken up and
melted itself If there is even so little
as an eighth of an ounce absorbed, the
pot must be broken and that precious
morsel eliminated from it. After it i,
melted it is weighed again. Allowance
is made for the slight loss it must neces-
sarily sustain in passing through the
crucibleS, and, with this allowance, 1t
. must exactly compare VITA It's oriSIla-
weight as a coin. After its value Is
thus ascertained, the broker, or whoever
brought it there, receives its equivalent
in American gold, or gold in any other
shape he may wish.
Another consideration obtains in the
melting-up process, and this is to make
sure that no counterfeit coin shall be
palmed off on the government. Rarely
does this occur in the case of goh coin,
for the reason that the brokers them
selves and others who bring them there,
are generally expert in detecting coun
terfeits but iii the silver Mexican dol
lar it frequently happens, more so, prob
ably, than in any other coin Of that L.
nan.;nat;an -philalalnLia Tlrnns