The morning call., 1890-11-24
S17,OOO,O00 WORTH
OF GOLD BRICKS.
4 Reporters Visit to the. Parent
Mint in Philadelphia.
The Value of Gold ard Silver Bulliou-How 1t
i. Is Resolved and the Manner in Which
It Is Converted Into Coin.

Itibited any day at the Treasury De-
partment, but the fascinating thing
is 10 see the money in process of manu-
facture, as a Star man saw it in Philadelphia
the: other day. If you care to visit the
Bureau Of Engraving and Printing you may
observe the process of stamping paper dol
lars and certificates. This, however, is COM
.paratively unsatisfactory, partly because
tile dollars thus made are not worth penny
until: they have subsequently received the
Treasurer's seal, and also for the reason
that they are not really money themselves,
but simply promises to pay. Now. 1t is very
different with the cash one sees stamped out
from the actual precious metal at the parent
nint Of the United States in Philadelphia.
: AT the Treasury you can behold thousands
OF bags full of silver and gold. All you see,
however. is the bags OF boxes. In the Mint,
on the contrary-supposing that you are a
favored yisit0r-yOu may view the actual
precious metal, walls of gold bricks and
stacks of pure silver. The representative
was. shown, little bookcase arrangement
:behihd a sort of cage, in which was stored
100000 worth of gold bricks. 1t was
astonishing how little room so enormous an
accumulation of value took up. One got a
HDti0n from the sight Of how it is that all
the gold that has ever been dug out OF the
garth would not more than I'LL room %
feet cube.
=. A gold brick, OF something the shape of
din ordinary brick for building purposes and
about the same size, Is worth not Tar from
5000. You could not carry very many of
Them, because gold is heavier than lead,
and the weight of one such gold brick is as
tonishlng. 1t would not pay TO rob the
Mint 1niess you had cart. Only one at
hoe 10 aDl hl ms
.tutidp within the last twenty-five years. A
lot of silver bars of considerable magnitude
AveTH exposed in the entry-way for the bene-
Mt of. sight-Seers, and one OF them was
scooped: into a barrel of refuse by porter,
the DaErel being subsequently sent down
the:eleYat0r and tossed into a cart that was
re idyr waiting. Unfortunately, the thief,
upon redching New \ ork with his lilac
:quIted prize, found it an incubus impossible
l. .diSpOoe;of Consequently he was caught
and
49,: THE INGoT RECOVERED.
=. 81 part of the MINIS business is to manu-
faeture what are called merchants bars"
tpr sale to jewellers, dentists and others, in
Guiding g0ld-ieaf makers, who need for their
trade virgin metal. Such bars, whether of
goluQr silver, are made 999 tne-that is to
say, 800 parts pure out Of 1000. How fine
tliS is may be judged from the TACT that our
gold and silver pieces are only 900 fine, the
-;y;.lnaining 100000 being copper. What Is
: called :. coin silver" is, therefore, only 9-10
p; re. Sterling silver" is 925-l000 pure,
.Huclt being the legal constitution of British
cDtns. Therefore, when you get sterling
silver you are buying a slightly superior
:afticie..
:, The Mint derives its supplies of gold and
81 Eyer mainly from the mines. Such precious
Hetals as it gets in this way come directly
HON the mines through the United States
Assay Office Upon their receipt at the
n ut hp no 10
refined, melted or nodded into bricks. A
=ggcd deal Of gold and silver is all The time
"ersmfng IN from private sources, jewellers,
paw nbrQkers and others selling their stock
of<suciI sort in this way, the rule being that
not less than S1G0 worth will be purchased.
Three. days alter deposits OF this sort have
*Jeen made payment is returned to the de-
pusftors.
An Of the 800, ooO, 600 in gold and silver
bricks at the Mint had gone through most
surprising trauSmogriticatiOnS. To begin
with, The silver, dissolved with nitric acid,
appeared il an enormous tank that was
stirred about by huge ladIe. Precipitated
from this mixture, the silver appeared In a
great trough, looking like nothing else in
the world. but so much plaster of paris.
This was shoveled into another trough
filed with a zinc solution, and the silver,
thus exposed 10 the action Of laser metal,
becomes like so much earthly gravel in APP
pearance. From this last trough it was
taken and pressed under an hydraulic
saueezer into thick round disks. Then it
was ready to go down TO another depart
Inent to be melted.
As for the gold, it had been separated
from the silver early in the game and had
all the appearance, in the crude state, OF
so much fine red gravel, and not so very red
either. If you had seen pile of it by the
cutters side you would not have been dis
posed to
PICK. UP A HANDFUL OF IT,
Surprising you had done so, you would have
thrown it away at once. comparatively
small amount of the stuff, in the bottom Of
a brass receptacle on wheels, an official in
charge said was worth 100000.
he silver and gold thus made ready in
the eparating-rOom" went downstairs to
be melted in cTucibles of black lead banked
In among the reddeSt of hot Goals. Alchem-
isis at SIS 30 day reduced the metals to a
molten state in the cruclbles, frVm which
the precious fluid was dipped out by ladel-
fuls and poured into iron molds. Incident
ally to the melting. however, 10 per cent OF
copper was mixed with the gold or silver,
such being the proportion of that baser
metal in United States coins. Our coins are
go parrs silver or gold, as the case maybe,
and are called for this reason 1900 fine
AS soon as the gold and silver bricks have
had time to get cold and solid they are
taken out of the molds and sliced into
thick strips. Each silver brick. for exam
pie, is cut into dozen strips OF its own
length and thickness. These strips
aye passed undrr powerful roller,
which squeezes them out as to
make them about twice as long and half
The thickness: At the same time 1t COM
presses the substance of the metal 80 much
that it becomes almost as hard and dense as
Steel Next the strips are anDealed or soft
ened by putting them into red-hot oven,
the heat of which is 1900 degrees. Finally
IL. 80 no.
times beneath another roller. and are then
ready to have the disks which are to be
coins punched out of them.
This punching business is performed with
much. simplicity by passing the strips
through beneath punches that work rapidly
up and down. the disks as they are punched
out falling into receptacles below. In this
way each punch cuts out 100 silver dollars
or 200 dimes every minute. The blanks thus
made are washed and then milled. This lat
coin its raised edge, and it is per-
formed with great rapiditv by ma
chimes that compress the edge of the
coins toward their counters as they revolye
about circular plane. At this point the
blank pieces are ready for another pro-
cess of annealing 10 soften them, in order
that they may receive properly the im-
press OF the die. They are put by big pans
full into an oven and heated red hot. Then
they are stirred about with scoops in big
chemical bath
TO MAKE THEM BRIGHT AGAIN,
The annealing having turned them black,
and OBJ being taken out of the bath they
are poured into revolving cylinder full Of
Eastwood sawdust. When they come out of
tile bath they look white, like so many eel
lulold poker chips, but after being turned
about in the cylinder with the sawdust they
are bright and shiny.
Now the blanks are at last ready to be
stamped with Uncle Sans designs. which
make them worth 100 cents on the dollar.
The dies strike off eighty coins minute,
printing both sides at once aud at the same
time corrugating the edges prettily. Women
with. deft fingers feed the blanks to the
machines, which strike them off and auto
Inatically dispose Of one while they receive
another. dropping the completed dollars or
halves or quarters or dimes into boxes be-
Death. All ttat remains to be done is the
counting of the coins, which is performed
with celebrity simply marvellous by girl
WHO. thinks nothing of counting $500 in
thirty seconds.
Gold coins are turned out In pretty much
the same way. The eyes of the average
yisi ar 70 the Mint are attracted in the room
where the c0untingis done by great boxes
filed to overlooking with beautiful shiny
llNr