Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-05-10
DEALERS IN SILVER.
LONDON THE WORLDS MARKET
NOIt THE WHITE METAL.
Sold, In Bulk Like Any Other srer-
chandise-Some of tho Causes
Which Have Led to Fluctua-
lions In Price.

shipped out of this country ns mer,
chandise in enormous quantities. Dun:
ing 1894 we exported $4,000, 600
worth of it, and in tho previous yenr
S46, 600, 600. Nearly oil of it goes
direct to London, which is the great
silver market Of tho world. There it
IS dealt in just like wheat or cotton,
ana ID delivered from thence to buy
ers IN every civilized country on tho
face Of the globe. Moro than half of
our silver finds its way, eventually to
Asia, the whole of which continent
employs this substance for money.
Tho business of buying and selling
silver in bulk rs merchandise ia more
than ordinarily interesting. 1t is con-
trolled by few dealers in New York
City, who have enormous capital and
practically unlimited credit. Tho
metal actually passes through their
hands, and is shipped by them to Lon.
don. 70 them tho iefincrs are Obliged
to look for advances of cash, of which
they are always in more or less urgent
need. Tho rcfincrs must pay prompt
ly for tho ores furnished to them
from tho mines. A single firm will
sometimes carry rs much as 1, 500, 900
ounces of silver in tho orc, which may
DO gold-bearing also. This requires q
lot of money.
The rctiner must pay tho mine own
CT not only for tho silver in tho ores,
but also for whatever gold. copper or
lead they may contain. Tho silver is
nadc into largo bricks, commercially
known rs "bnrs," weighing ordinarily
from 1000 to 1900 ounces. Each brick
is stamped with figures indicating its
weight and fineness. These figures
are absolutely reliable; not the Gov
ernment itsolf could be more careful
to have them correct. Tho bars are
bought and sold, passing through
many hands, without any further test
for determining their value. If one
of them should prove to be not MS
represented tho credit aud standing
OF tho refiner would suffer serious
damage.
The refiner forwards his bars by OK
press to tho dealer in New York. They
are delivered usually at the Office of
the dealer, where several tons of them
may DO stacked up Mt ono time on the
floor, with no other protection than
wire fence. No special guard is
necessary, because tho big chunks of
white metal nro too heavy to DO car
ried away easily. Robbers would
have to bring truck with them. A
brick weighing eighty or ono hundred
pounds is pretty COOL lift for n
strong man. Sometimes tho refincr,
at the Dealers order, sends the bars
direct to the ship, and they are put
down into tho hold like any other
merchandise.
Ordinarily tho silver bars aro not
placed in tho specie vault, even
though tho ship may Lave such con-
venienco for safo deposit. No greater
care IS taken of them than of other
merchandise in the cargo, because it
is practically impossible for anybody
to get away with them. On the mr.
rival of tho ship ut Liverpool tho
bricks are sent by rnil to London,
consigned to brokers in that city. In
duo time they sold and forwarded to
various parts of the world. Some of
them may go to the continent, while
others arc shipped to Egypt, Bombay,
Madras, Penang, Manila, tho Brazils
and New Zealand. Dealers in silver
everywhere look to London for their
supply.
Tho demand from India for silver
hns been greatly diminished of late,
owing to the fact TINT the British
Government in that country has
stopped coming the metal 1. is Still
coined to considerable extent, how
ever, by the minis of the native
princes. A great deal of silver goes
to China, where tho bricks are cut up
into pieces, which circulate and have
value MS currency; according to their
weight. These pieces nrc chilled
"tnels, and those employed in differ
cnt parts of the empire vary IN weight,
SO that the merchant in concluding n
bargain must be sure as to whether he
is to bo paid in .tacls OF Shanghai or
of Haikwan, or of Tien-Tsin, OF OF
Chcfoo.-
Our silver bars nrc known on the
London market as "cako" silver. The
latest quotation for cake silver is 59l
cents per ounce. "Fino bar" silver
is worth fiftyisix cents an ounce. The
quotation for iino ba- silver contain
ing five grains of gold tc the ounce is
half cent more. This kind Of silver
is used almost wholly by reiiners il
tho processes Of their business. Mexi.
can dollars are quoted at fifty cents
an ounce. These dollars are favor.
lite circulating medium in CHM and
the Straits Settlements, and they are
regularly quoted on 'chnnge in New
York as well rs in London.
The silver dealer in New York buys
foreign coins of all sorts. Suppose
that merchant in the City of Mexico
owes sum of money to a merchant il
Now York. He pays the debt by {
shipment. of Mexican dollars. The
Now York merchant finds no efol
Mexican dollars in his business, ant
SO sells them to the dealer in silver.
The dealer forwards them to a broker
in London, and the latter ships them
to China and the Straits Settlements.
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