Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1891-01-24
PRECIOUS GOLD DUST.
nsps h . Table Drawer ~ the Oovera
men, rrln,lnE I'm -.

men, rrIa,lnE Om -.
Seven thousand dollars worth ~ gold
J dust In q table drawer, Poke sour
| nngnrs into the yellow stuf and notice
how soft and agreeable to the fr'liuot'
u, SAYS tho Washington Tar, NhI,, .ho
attendant In charge watches you care.
fully and sees that you do not get away
with any of 81, IL " smuu,h 80 The
ton 81. because II IL all CON b,"d u
| gold.bcatet's illm rubbed 10 almost Inn
pllpablc powd"r. For the same rca.
son, too, II IL absolutely pure and virgin
metal, twenty four cArAts fine.
The drawer IL In charge Of . pretty
| young cir at the Government printing
office Her work there IL ~ stamp gold
| lettering and urnamentation upon book
covers The precious substance comes
to her III IN, shape ~ little rectangular
sheets OF foil ,neNpress,hly thin, laid
between layers ~ tissue paper made up
| in book form each book holding TWEEN.
| ty.fuur gold sheets Handling them IL
a matter requiring great skill, though
| you might not imag. e II from casual
inspection To begin with, say the
| young woman places un the table before
her an ordinary leather book cover
| She takes from the li'tlr gold book
sheet 20 the foil not wtth her Hugcr..
but by catching It up With small pad
OF raw cotton. Laying town the sheet
~ pure yellow gold upon little slab,
she cuts it into 'Hr'u piece, With a sharp
knife. She makes II smooth by blow.
ing gently upon II with hrr breath
| One ~ va" piuc"- sh" applies to the
| back ~ The cover where the titly /, ~
20; another she also put, On the back,
| where the name ~ the AGthor IN u be,
while the third hIggcs pirc" Ia spread
over the midilc ~ IN zap u M cover,
whcrc an ornamental .ign il wanted.
Next, after smoothing the piece Of
gold nlm down firmly On the leather,
the pretty girl dido the cover beneath
a small press that stand, On tho table
In the press. face downward, IL die IN.
gravcd In r,li,t WITH thr nar. - he
book that II in be- incaSrd In the cover.
the authors name aud the ornamental
design referred to. ia" die IL kept
heated by gaS 4 movement 4 lever
worked by hand bring, IA" die down
upon tn" cover, and Ga" raised lettering
and design burn the gold tpll wherever
there IN contact, So that IL l. made to
adhere to the leather In thos" spots.
The die In lifted, the cover II Withdrawn
from the press. and tho gold Is rubbed
of with piece Of soft leather on the
end Of q stick. Wherever the die has
not touched 1t the Him comes OF read.
lily, leaving thu lettering an | the design
adhCring - closely Ia th" leather that
they could not be- removed, save by hard
scraping. Finally the young woman
ruhs the leather with a chunk ~ burnt
rubber, which take, ~ all undesirable
PARTICLES, 81 that the ornamental pattern
and the names ~ book and author shine
out with beautiful clcarncss OF outline
In twcnty four carat Epld. Tho whole
process has taken COOL many words TO
describe, but 1t II actually performed
very quickly, the covers being spread
with gold, stamped with the heated lilo,
and rubbed Ill IN rapid succession. Zach
fresh sort ~ hook-cUvcr has 10 have .
new die, Of course.
Tho operator Is very careful In rub
bling oil III, loose gold after each stamp
ing. ~ a. Ia lose nom ~ IL ~ she uses
the lcathrr.'irpcd .'trk she permit, the
. yellow stun 20 fan through crack In
the table top into the drawer beneath
in the shape Of dust. 1t Is allowed TO
accumulate there until the draw, 1 is lull.
The drawer IN quit" big and deep. and
will mold $4,000 worth of the dust You
would not imagine IL 10 be- any very
precious substance II YOU found guam
t.ty az 1t In Somc odd place, u looks as
much like powdered tinsrl ~ any thing
else. However II is worth S!Oa ounce,
and when drawer full IL collected the
gold IL furNardyd 10 the mint In Phils-
dclphia, which subjects II Ia assay and
sends back check for its value.
The burnt rubber used for the Anal
. polishing OF OF the gold lettering, ETC.,
, IL simply lndia.rubher which has been
subjected to peculiar fre process that
makes II very spongiose and absorbent.
: 40 remarkable is Its latter quality that
1 u chunk OF II as big as three OF your I'm.
gers will take up more than SIS worth
Of gold In its pores. When, after some
, months Of use such piece of burnt
rubhcr is loaded with all the gold 1t will
comfortably carry, 1t is sent, witha lot Of
= others in the same condition, 10 the mint
= to Ice assaycd,
! Real gold is only used in this way for
/, particularly anc books. Designs and
:, lettering OF the sort for ordinary vol.
umcs are done at the Cover nment print
ing Office in nearly the same manner,
but with u yellow composition called
a "Gcrmnn metal" which looks very
much like the gold and Is decidedly
cheaper. No trouble Is taken to save
the wastagc, and each book cover, after
\ being stamped hy the hot die, Ii simpl y