Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-03
OLD GOLD.
Interesting Facts Abou ut Its Purchase and
Treatment.

Interesting Facts About Its Purchase and
Treatment.
From the Boston Herald.
In the face Of tho much-prohesied gold
famine, old gold is in great demand 1t is
bought by the refners for mechanical pur-
poses and is paid for with spot cash Of tho
greenback variety.
Old gold is very rich. no. only in monetary
value but in strange and interesting suggestions.
Most Of it is in the shape Of dilapidated jew
elry. A worn band Of gold comes in. 1t was
once q wedding ring and must have been held
as precious beyond all price by the bride who
wore it during her honeymoon. In after years,
as it was worn and worn till it was almost worn
away, it must have fiuctuated many times in
value
The ring does not say whether its owner was
happy or not. The link OF gold may have bound
together a loving husband and wife, or it may
have connected widow with heaven, or with
the GOODNESS Of Il steel it may have held her like
| galley slave chained to q companion that
she hated.
The ring tells none Of these things. 1t is
old-fashioned and worn. and that shows that it
has seen long service. Perhaps it was worn by
. rangers, being superseded by another we'd
ding ring, or, perhaps. 1t was precious family
heirloom handed down from generation to
generation.
The purchaser rubs 1t on a smooth stone
until it leaves q yellow mark. drop Of nitric
or compound acid discolors this mark 80 that
| the expert assayer can tell the purity OF the
gold. Then it is carefully weighed and paid
for at the rate, perhaps, Of three or four cents
| o karat
All sorts Of curious things are sold for the
precious metal they contain. Old watches that
are broken beyond repair. old seal rings and
rings that were once set with cleaning gems. A
broken locket once contained n miniature and
probably holds the secret of romance. A
brooch is made of the lght-colored gold of
over 100 years ago and stall holds a lock of
somebody's dark hair. 1t was bought, hair and
all, and will go into the melting pot with its
story untold.
Some Of the gold comes already melted into
Jumps, some Of it is the gold filling of teeth
and dentists scraps, and some OF it is in the
form Of old plates, with artificial teeth still
sticking to them.
Hood & Reynolds the assayers on fremont
street, say that old gold is very scarce and
they have had hard work to collect the amount
needed In their business. The old jewelry
and scraps are melted down and refined. then
rolled out into gold. The gold foil is bought
by dentists and put into the teeth Of their Gus
toners. and in most cases goes back into the
ground with the owner Of the teeth when he
dies. Some day, when Boston is a bowling
wilderness, an enterpris ing miner will wash out
the earth Of the cemeteries and reap a rich
harvest.
But that is q matter OF speculation. 1t is O
matter of fact that one firm OF reiiners here In
Boston uses up $4,000 worth of old gold every
week, and lately has been compelled to buy
coin to exc out the supply needed for mechani-
c Il purposes.
A great deal Of the jewelry is soldered to
brass, lead and other metals The quality of
the gold is tested just as In the case of solid
jeweiry, and the stuff is weighed in bulk and
paid for at the rate established by averaging
the results of different weighings. Even plated
jewelry is taken, but when pure brass comes In
the purchasers are forced to draw the line.
A good deal Of the old silver is sold in the
same way, but instead Of being in demand it is
drug on the market. 1t is not so interesting.
either, as it usually comes in the shape OF
spoons, knives and watches. When tine dealers
get more silver than they can use they send ii
to the government minis lis quickly as they can.
Not little platinum is sold as Old metal. and
usually comes in the fern OF bits Of wire and
scraps from broken incandcscent lamps. 1t is
now largely used by dentists, but it is sent 20
New York for treatment. as it can only be
melted by means of a compound blow pipe, and
there is no place in Boston where that is done.