Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-10-20
COMING JEWELRY.
ONE OF THE MANY SECRETS OF THE
PAWNBRokERs' TRADE.

Little Dark Room In the Rear Of Chi.
cago Loan Once. Where Many Golden
Heirlooms Arc Melted and Cast Into Bars
Which Are Traded For Good Coin.
Looks funny, doesn't it? All the
same there are q dozen of those ma.
chimes going at least once week in this
city that the public never heard about
before. When you understand it, you
will be able to tell your friends what
becomes of the gold and silver they
leave with their uncle and never re-
deem. On the dead now, don't give
me away, and will tell you some Of
the secrets of the pawnbrokers' trade. -
The remark was made in little dark
room in the rear Of one of the big loan
Offices not far from Madison and Dear
born streets. The proprietor went ON to
say the reports show that 10 to Is per
cent of all articles placed in hook
are never called for. Then often gold
and silver are purchased outright by
the pennyweight or ounce, and in one
way or another a large amount of the
precious metals is accumulated. To
turn old style goods into ready cash is
the problem that confronts the loan
broker. Bankrupt stocks of new designs
and fresh goods fill the cases in the
counters and show windows, and the
old material goes into new golden eagles,
with Uncle Sans stamp upon them.
On the floor of the back room. reach
ed after setting half a dozen electric
alarms going and the pressing of nu-
merous buttons, was a peculiar contriv-
ance looking like a inch tile stood
on end, with brass barrel covered with
pipes by its side. A copper pan, some
iron tools and some bowls that looked
like common flowerpots lay on the floor.
This copper barrel, ~ said the pro-
prietor, sis filed with naphtha- These
pipes lead to this tile or furnace. This
handle here is for the forcing of air be-
hind the naphtha so it will make a
strong blast. These pots are crucibles.
Into the furnace We place the crucible;
into the crucible goes the gold. Hot,
isn't it? So hot that we are compelled
to wear colored glasses to see what's
going on. But that's nothing to the way
the thing is done in Uncle Sans fur
ble''
Into the stone jar went gold watch
cases and chains with family histories,
crests and initials, souvenir spoons and
breastpins of forgotten dates, rings that
could have spoken OF wedding bells and
birthdays in the long ago, golden
| charms, scarfpins with the jewels re-
moved and odds and ends collected In a
weeks trade The estimated value of
the hatful of stock was 81, 900 in pure
gold. Into the melting collection went a
lot of borax This was to make the gold
flow when sufficiently melted. There
was no smoke, nothing but a sickly
smell of naphtha, the noise of the blast
and the glittering whiteness of the cru
| chile.
To get q closer look at the melting
gold pair of green eyeglasses was fur
nished. As the broker stirred the con-
tents Of the crucible with all iron poker
black bubbles would come to the top and
pieces Of coarser metal would be seen
| struggling to the surface only to sink
back into tile yellow gold now turn
ed to fluid. The broker lifted the cruoi-
white hot contents into an iron mold.
The mold rested in pan of water All
| the gold settled into the mold, and the
borax, turning black as it hit the water,
staid on top. In few minutes the
| borax was knocked off and out fell
bar of gold weighing several pounds,
eight inches long and probably three
| fourths of an inch square. After clean
ing the bar was laid aside for shipment
to the treasury.
| 1--WE do this once a week, +" said the
proprietor as he shut off the valve to the
naphtha barrel. From here the bars go
to Washington by express. Before its
value is returned We will pay ont near
~ q on 81, 900. AT Uncle Sans works
the bar will he remelted by q fiercer
heat Then the melted mass will be
poured into water, where it will form
into shot or pellets of gold and silver
and copper. These pellets are then plac-
ed in acid and the different metals sep.
arated. No. you can't fool the govern
ment for a minute. Science does the
work in good shape. After this process
the treasury ships gold eagles for the
| SOlu duu silver COLI IOr tne silver
metal contained in the bar. So, You
see, the old battered watch case,
broken chain or out of date orna-
ment comes back in new coin Of the
realm Over 5000, 900 worth of gold
bars is annually sent from Chicago bro
kers in this way, and not one person in
10, 900 ever sees how the melting is
done. Of course many gold coins are
made into jewelry and in course of time
are sent back through our crucibles once
more. This is ON account of change Of
style In gold ornaments of all kinds
which is constantly going on. Any
profit? Oh, yes We figure all such
things. An article pawned means to us
only its weight in the crucible with a
profit deducted This profit may be 6
or it may be 10 per cent. A chain
weighing $40 worth Of gold we buy for
IS. so or some less. The g. so Is for
profit, handling and the risk Yes, it's
ouite n huSiness mud MANY a fa,u;lv h;s