Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-31
ASSAYING OLD METALS
The Refining Crucible Receives Many Tokens
of Sweet Rcmanees.
An Interview With n MAJ I'm the Bust
ness. Who Tells Its Secrets
md Its system.

Some queer things happen in our line of
business. remarked the proprietor of a
large assay ard refining establishment in
New York to the writer recently. you
see, We purchase the scraps and sweepings
from factories or private individuals and
extract the metals Very often people who
were once wealthy come in here and part
with their silver services gold ornaments
in order to raise some ready cash in an
emergency. The pawnbrokers will. as a
rule loan little nothing on such articles
because, perhaps. they are dnsquated or
ont of style. We give the intrinsic value
for the metal less the expense of refining
''Old gold is very rich not only in none
tary value but in strorg ami interesting
SGt e st!Dns. Much of it comes to US In
the SHAPE of dilIpidated jewelry. such as
watches that are worn and broken beyond
repair. Old seal rings and rings that were
once set with cleaning gems. A broken
lGCket brought here the other day contain
81 a miniature painted on ivory that prob
amy Mods the secret of Il romance. We
n; We also a brooch made of the light-coi-
cred gold Of over one hundred years ago
and 1t sim holds lock of somebody's
ITucii-valued yellow hair. 1t was bought
halr and all and will go into the melting
pot tomorrow with the story untold.
Teeth Go With the Plates.
Not a little gold comes TO us already
filling of teeth and dentists scraps, and
some of it is in the form of old plat IS with
artificial teeth still sticking to them Be-
fore We purchase precious metal we rub it
on a smooth stone Until it leaves a yellow
marx y drop of nitric COMPOUND acid
discclors this mark so that we can tell
the purity of the metal offered 10 us
10 a nicely Then il is carefully weighed.
add paid for at the rate of from :: to )
cents i carat
The old jewelry and scraps are melted
down and refined. and then rolled OUT into
geld foil. which is bought mostly by dem
lists and put into the teeth of customers
"A great deal of silver is brought to u.s.
but. instead of being In demand. it ~ Just
now q drug il the market. 1t usually
comes to us in the shape of knives forks,
spoons. napkin rings and watches. When
We have more silver than we can use we
send It To the government mints.
Evidently Struck IL Rich.
we assay a large amount of specimen
ore Three weeks ago a young man
strayed in here casually and said he had
piece of ore that he would like to have
assayed. picked it up Accidentally he
said. "A few days ago in Pennsylvania,
where was spending my vacation The
Specimen was assayed, and proved. to be
Il wonderful one. 1t turned out $50 in gold
and s1S in silver. The Young man nearly
went wild He hastened back 10 Pennsyl-
vanid and purchased the land where he
found the ore If the earth is rich with
that kind OF ore there will be one man, at
least. who need not spend Il hard winter
in Alaska looking for gold
1T is only within recent years that the
swecplnss from ieweiry factories have
beer saved. Twenty years ago / knew
-e,Cral manufacturers who threw away
so 10 the pound of discarded trimmings.
They would discharge hand who did not
put the stuff in the ash barrel. Today
every atom Of waste metal is preserved.
SO r1ucn for the change 10 strict economy
In metal.
Waste From Photographers.
Photographic wastes have also become
enormous in the last ten years. Every
photographer in the United States is now
careful to save the trimmings from his
paper which has on it a surface of nj
trdte of silver We have agents travelling
constantly about the country collecting the
waste clippings Of selsitized paper that
acc;mulates in every photograph gallery.
W hsn the waste comes to us We separate
cesses and then prepare ii for the market
again. The re-refned nitrate is as good
rs il was originally. and is sold for just as
much We, of course. make a big profit
out of the waste, and the photographer
Is able TO get a good supply of material
Tor the scraps that would otherwise be
OF no use to him. Not only the scraps OF
silver sensiiized paper, but those of the
paper treated with solutions of gold are
eagerly sought by the refncr."