The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-01-25

y Akfk 1NG AAAhT fACCA AGE.
How Hard Money is nfade-The work
os Weighing ard A~ssayiDg.
New YORK TribuHe.
"We don't make money here" said
Philip Van Wyck, the courteous chief
| clerk Of the assay Office 70 q Tribune re-
porter aday or two ago; THAT is, We
dent convert bullion into coin. We re-
ceive gold and silver from depositors,
melt and assay the bullion, form it into
bars and ship the bars to the Philadel-
phia Mint, and in the course ota few
days that institution sends us back the
COIN
"But does the depositor have to wait
! for payment until the coin gets back
from Philadelphia asked the report
er.
"Not at ALL" said the chiefclerk; .sthe
| government furnishes Us with a bullion
fund amounting to over $35, 200, 900, out
of which We pay the depositor Just as
soon as the lineness of his metal is de-
termined by assay. the weight ascer-
and the value calculated. In fact. all
our deposits, except in cases of resmelt
n re-agsay, are made within Two
days.
"Now, said he, picking mp q bright
new eagle, you know how easy 1t is to
spend that coin, but unless you are ia
miliar with the work you can form no
idea ofthe time and labor it took to
make It. From the time the bullion
from which this double eagle was made
reached the mint until it was converted
into coin 1t passed through no less than
ten Distinct processes, such as melting,
allowing, forming the metal into ingcts.
rolling the iDgots into strips the thick
ness of the coin. cutting from the strips
the 'planchets' or blanks ~annealing,
milling and adjusting the sblanke,' and
coming or stamping the pieces. besides
sundfy minor operations incidental to,
minting. Now. examine that coin close
ly uRderth glass and SEQ how we'll the
work isexecuted. The Romans excelled
in the art OF engraving, and many of
their coins were Masterpieces. But we
can not afford 10 throw up our central de-
signs In such bold relief as the Romans
did. for in tins hurry and hustle of our
day and the rapid handling and piling
of coins we would soon wear the face
off Of thu goddess and wings offthe eagle.
So, while our designs are in bold relief,
yet we make them low and protectthem
as much as DO sible from abrasion and
wear by throwing up the edge Of the
blank, technically called milling."
THE manufacturing OF dies, or the
art Of die sinking, has reached great
perfection at the PHILADELPHIA mint"
c%ontin1.d Mr.. Van Wyck, and all the
coinage dies for the other minis are
made at that institution. The artist first
makes the design and then a model of IT
in wax three or four times larger than
the desired coin. From this model an
e~lectrotype is taken. and then the de-
sign is transferred by g of a Hill
engraving machine which works on the
principle of a pantograph, to a block of
steel the size OF tho coin. But, as only
the principal design. snch as the head,
eagle, orshield. can be thus transferred,
the artist fills in by hand
the stars, date and all surround
ing details. Then, after removing the
ground or the face of the block, he
strikes from the block an impression in
10 and upon q second block. This sec
ond block is hardened and al impres-
sion is transferred 30 a third similar
block, which we cal. the ssparent die"
or master hub" and from which the
regular coinage dies are made. The inn
preston on the master hub" is in re-
lief or convex, while that on the work
ing or coinage die is in ''intaglio," or
concaye.
but let us see what they are doing in
here said the Chief Clerk as he
stepped into the "Weigh Room"
where truck loads of silver we're being
weighed. That scale you soc there is a
model of accuracy, and will weigh from
ten thousand ounces down to the one-
hundreth Of an ounce. This small bal
ance weighs from twenty ounces down
to the one five-thousandth part Of q
grain. In fact we must hav' accuracy
in this work, not only to check our oper-
alions. but to maintain the reputation of
this Office, which is such that our stamp
of weight and ~fineness passes current
in all the commercial centers of the
world
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