The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1894-08-31
THE UNSEEN GOLD SUPPLY,
IT MOVES IN A STEADY STREAM
TOWARD THE MINT.
hccDsakes and Jcwelry May 30
HOarded, But the Mint Gets
Them--iow Gold Is Melted.

Here, was n sign hanging
i in front of an Eighth ave-
nue. shop that attracted
the attention of two passcrs-by few
days ago. One of the passers was
Sun reporter, the other was Mr.. j.
Robley Dunglison, Registrar of De-
posits i'll tho Philadelphia Mint, who
probably knows more about the nm
seen supply of gold than any other
man in this country. The "unseen
gold supply" is n term the mint peo-
pie use to describe the tons of gold
and silver that lie in the half-forgot.
ten boxes in bureau drawers old gold
pencils, old watch cases, neglected
pocket pieces, broken chains, spccta-
Gle rims, and n thousand other bits of
metal that have intrinsic value. Most
OF these things are sure to find their
way to the mint sooner or later, and
when they do it is Mr.. Dunglison who
makes an entry of their weight in the
mint's big books.
''There is one Of our feeders" Mr..
Dunglison said, as he read the sign.
"You would be surprised to know how
much OF tho gold aud silver that we
turn out in coin comes to us through
such places. There are thousands of
buyers of old bullion in this city, and
tens Of thousands Of them throughout
the country. In the aggregate they
send us great many tons of bullion
every year, and so put great deal of
money into circulation that would
otherwise lie idle.
"rhere is no piece OF gold or silver
so large or so SMALL" he continued,
"that the dealers will not buy it, Do
you know that gold filling out of ex-
tracted teeth make considerable item
in the mint's gold? They do. When
dentist extracts tooth he is sure to
extract also any gold that may be in
it, and these tiny bits after while
make Il little boxful, which is sold to
u dealer. The idea seems unpleasant,
but it is not, when you know how
thoroughly all bullion is refined and
cleansed in the mint before it is
coined.
"Iou will find that all these dealers
would little rather buy old silver
than old gold. because there is moro
profit in 1t. The price of silver fuctu.
atcs SO much that they can always buy
1t for considerably less than its real
value; but the price of gold never
varies An ounce of gold is worth
S20.G7 always, in all civilized coun-
tries; and this is SO well understood
that the dealer must pay pretty near
ly that much for it, He generally in
creases his profit little by paying in
goods instead Of in cash The dealer
must be able to do little crude as
saying himself, or he is likely to mako
mistakes. Gold jewclry, for instance,
is rarely made of pure gold. Our
mint standard for pure bullion is 1000,
and we rarely get a watch case or
ring or II chain that assays more than
500, showing that it is half gold or
silver and half alloy. You think you
are carrying gold watch, but tho
chances are ninety-nine in a hundred
that the cases are half copper. The
cases will reach the mint some day,
almost to a certainty, .and then the
copper will come out.
"rhe flow of old jewelry to the mint
is almost rs certain and steady as the
flow of water down an incline. The
old trinket is broken and useless, and
you lay it away. Perhaps it is an heir
loom, or for some other reason you arc
attached to it, and you would not
think of selling it. But rainy day
may come, and you are glad to sell it.
In any case, YOU are sure to die some
fime, and your heirs will not care for
the chain; then we get it and turn it
into dollars or enOleS
"Wc do not buy bullion in small
than 500 worth of gold or silver at a
time, and then we do not pay for it
autil It has been assayed. If you
bring us 800 worth of metal that you
suppose to be gold, we weigh it and
give you II receipt for it, and three
days later yCu can call and receive
the money for whatever gold We find
in it. No matter if the lot only con-
tains dollars worth Of gold, we will
receipt for the weight and extract the
gold for you an pay you for it. But
you lose all tho base metal, because in
the refining everything but the gold
and silver Is destroyed. That is, it is
practically destroyed, because our
work is with gold and silver only, and
we do not make any effort to save the
base metals. = c9aii easily be done,
but it would not pay for the time and
trouble. We could separate not only
the gold and silver, bat the copper
also, and the lead AMI whatever else
is present.
"When you take quantity OF old
IL D., II 4