The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1895-01-05
COMING JEWELRY.
oNs OF THE MANY SECRETS oe rAs
PAwNeRoKERs' TRADE.


so,, Looks OK funny, doesn't it, All the
s%iue 'nere are dozen of those ma.
ZINES gong at least once weel, in this
Si'y 'nat the public never heard abort
oelore. When you understand - ,-o,,
WIZ be able to tell your friends ,rhot
becomes OF the gold and silver thoy
ieaVe with their uncle and nevo,. ,e.
ueem' On the dead now. don,t o;va
me away, and will tell Won some Of
inc secrets of the pawnbroi,a,.s, 49,, -
80 10 ien'ark was made in little dark
room IN the rear Of one of the bio Loan
oinces not far from Madison and Dear
oorn streets The proprietor went ON IN
say the reports show that 10 70 TX Nor,
cene Oh all articles placed in .hocl,,,
are never called for Then often gold
anu silver are purchased outright nv
'ne pennyweight or ounce. and in one
way OF another large amount of the
precious metals is accumulated 10
turn old style goods into ready cosb IL
,ne problem that confronts the loan
broker Bankrupt stocks of new designs
ana fresh goods fill the cases in the
counters and show windows and the
Ola 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 nm
merous buttons, was a peculiar cont,iv-
ance looking like inch file stood
on end' with brass barrel covered with
pipes by Its side, A copper pan. some
iron tools and some bowls that looked
ike common fowerpots lay ON the floor.
This copper barrel, " said the pro-
prietor, lis filled 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 orucible goes the gold. Hot.
isn't 1t! 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
naces. Now, here goes to fill the cruci-
BILE -
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
weeks trade. The estimated value of
the hatful of stock was 1000 in pure
gold. Into the melting collection went
lot Of borax. This was to make the gold
flow when sufficiently melted. There
was no smoke, nothing but sickly
smell of naphtha, the noise of the blast
and the glittering whiteness of the cru
chile
To get a closer look at the melting
gold pair of green eyeglasses was fur
nished. As the broker stirred the con-
tents of the crucible with an 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 the yellow gold now turn
ed to fluid. The broker lifted the cruci-
BILE out of the furnace and poured its
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 a few minutes the
borax was knocked off and out fell a
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 out near
ly 81 on 81, 600. AT Uncle Sans works
the bar will be remelted by a 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
gold and silver coin for the silver
metal contained in the bar. SO, you
see, the old battered watch case
broken chain or out OF date olna-
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 sucn
things. An article pawned means TO Us
only its weight in the crucible with a
profit deducted. This profit may De
or it may be ~ per cent. A cham
weighing $40 worth Of gold we buy ior
IS. so or some less. The $l.50 Is ior
profit handling and the risk. Yes y.
quite a business, and many family MS
tory has been told in the golden herr
looms that have fallen into a loan uIo-
ker's crucible. Chicago Tribune.
Useless Trouble.
A mesmerist. ON his trial for crime