Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-09-17
THE UNSEEN GOLD SUPPLY,
IT MOVES IN A STEADY STREAM
TOWARD THE MINT.
Keepsakes and Jewelry May Ec
Hoarded, But tbs Mint Gets
Them-Iiow Gold is Melted.

Hoarded, But tho Mint Gets
Them-Iiow Gold is Melted.
([0 LID Gold and Silver Bought
y" Here, . was a sign hanging
Y i in front of an Eighth ave-
nue. shop that attracted
the attention of two passers-by u few
days ago. One of the passers was IL
Sun reporter, the other was Mr.. J.
Robley Dunglison, Registrar of De-
posits in the Philadelphia Mint, who
probably knows more about the nm
seen supply OF gold than nny other
man in this country. The "unseen
gold supply is term tho 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, specta-
Gle rims, and Il 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.
"Ihere is one of our feeders" Mr.
Dunglison said, as he read the sign.
"You would be surprised to know how
much Of the gold and silver that we
turn out i'll coin comes to us through
such places. There are thousands OF
buyers of old bullion in this city, and
lens 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.
"Ihere 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 cx-
tracted teeth make considerable item
in the mint's gold? They do. When
n dentist extracts tooth he is sure to
extract also any gold that may be in
it, and these tiny bits after while
make 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.
"You Will find that all these dealers
would a little rather bny old silver
than old gold, because there is more
profit in 1t. The price OF silver huctu-
ates 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
S20.6 67 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 make
mistakes. Gold jewolry, for instance,
is rarely made of pure gold. Our
mint standard for pure bullion is 1000,
and we rarely get watch case or Il
ring or a chain that assays more than
800, showing that it is half gold or
silver and half alloy. You think you
are carrying II gold watch, but the
chances are nincty-nine in hundred
that the cases are half copper. The
cases will reach the mint some day,
almost to certainty, and then the
copper will come out.
"rhe flow of old jewelry to the mint
is almost as 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 are
attached to it, and you would not
think of selling it. But n rainy day
may come, and You are glad to sell it,
In any case, you are sure to die some
time, and your heirs will not care for
the chain; then we get it and turn it
into dollars or eagles.
"We do not buy bullion in small
quantities at the mint-nothing less
than $100 worth of gold or silver at
time, and then we do not pay for it
until it has been assayed. If you
bring us 500 worth of metal that YOU
suppose to be gold, we weigh it and
give you receipt for it, and three
days later you 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 and pay you for it. But
you lose all the 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. 1t could easily be done,
but it would not pay for the time and
trouble. We could separate not only
the gold and silver, but the copper
also, and the lead and whatever else
is present.
"When you take q quantity of old
gold to the mint to sell, your metal is
not mixed with any other metal. Each
lot is kept separate until it has been
nssayed. Your gold is put into an iron
box with two locks, and when its turn