The Savannah morning news., 1900-11-13
CHEESE OF SOLID GOLD.
HOW PRECIOUS METAL - HANDLED
~ THE ASSAY OFFICE.

/ Turned In Cold or silver Bnrs-sen-
timcnt In silver Plate Revealed by
some of the Patrons II the United
states Assay once IN New York
/ City-FRmIIy Pride and Lost Anec-
ton Purified In Flame by the As
| sayers-Methods Of Working Gold
and silver Before Being Formed.
From the New York Mall and Express
For atty years the same two men have
been making the same kind Of cheeses IN
the same little old building on wall
street. These cheeses are tremendously
/ valuable. aud when a Mail and Express
reporter. who STOOD yesterday afternoon
watching the men 10 work iabbed his
pencil deep into a tube Of yellow meal that
stood ready to be nodded. one OF the men
cried out IN alarm:
/ Don't touch g." So the reporter care
fully wiped of the pencil on the side OF
the tub 80 that no particle Of the precious
meal remained-for the meal In the tub
was worth $50 Ooo-lt was gold 90 nne
and stood ready to be prepared for melt
Ing into bars.
The man who stood guarding Il 50 zeal
ously was Henry Doherty. who has han
died gold meal IN that room OF the United
states assay Office since 1873 lie pre-
pares II FOR Cyrus c.. Drummer. who Tor
Nifty years has stood every day IN his cor
ner by the hydraulic press speeding gold
and silver meal into cheeses
There were other tubs Of meal-the gold
like req clay ground tine and the silver
like crushed glass. The meal represented
strange mingling OF family pride and
poverty lost love and ruined ambitions.
| besides wealth Of adventure within the
very teeth OF disaster.
Anybody can take gold and silver 10 the
assay office IN lots OF no, less than 500
aud have II melted or refined by paying a
small charge. Il is In the character OF
| the wares thus brought for melting that
| the human interest Of the once Is found
| OF a hundred millions OF precious metal
melted last year. about seven millions was
old silver. owing TO the fact that plated
ware Is accepted. the silver bullion made
the greatest bulk. II consisted OF old
watch cases and abandoned plate An odd
feature Is that often a so-caIed old fam
n.y. forced 10 part with It's venerable plate
| through untoward circumstances. viii
nave costly ana artistic forms turned into
mere bullion before II Is offered on tho
market. The value that was lent 10 The
metal by the artist Is thus lost. but that
Is equaied, In the minds Of the owners. b,
the consolation thar vulgar hands via
never use tho family plate
Where there Is no especial artistic, v,iua
Ia the old plate IL is wise. from a business
standpoint. 10 melt Il before ing a.
Dealers In old plate buy IL for IT'S bullion
value only. They being EXPERT. can teu
what this value Is. ana II they be not OK
acuy honest might get much the best OF
'he bargain But when Il is mei,ed in the
assay office each bar is stamped with the
| exact weight and fiReness. so that A child
might take It to market and get is value
Precious Metal Everlasting.
Not old plate alone goes into the melt
| ing pots OF Uncle sam Every wear hun
drcda OF sets Of sllverwear thaf have
never left the manufacturers hands arr
/ melted up. These are wares that have
been made IN excess OF the demand ana
have gone out OF fashion. so that The best
/ way TO realize on them Is to remelt then,
/ ana reform them. Some manufacturer
do this melting themselves but the soy.
/ eminent does Il well and cheaply. so gets
| much OF II to do. Thus. no bit o. silver A.
/ ever lost TO the world. and battered Oh
relics may reappear Tomorrow IN &c.
| gantly chased new designs. As old candy
Is made over and over into new caram,ls
| until finally eaten. so Is Old silver made
over and over indefinitely
In the smaller bits OF gold and silver
that comes to the mint are rings ana
| broken Jewels that seem 10 thrill with
sentiment as they 80 10 liquid In the fierce
furnaces. II is surprising how many love
tokens ind their way there to be purified
| In flame. Toys. engagement rings. pres
/ entation badges and odd coins are min
| gled into a common mass IN the furnace
| often articles OF extreme value come to
/ the furnaces In these odd lots but even
/ rNa
/ treasure, they may not save IL without
| the consent Of the owner for he may
/ have an especial reason for wanting "a
/ destroyed. Employees occasionally 10
| save a rare article but with the consent
OF the owner and By replacing g with
| metal Of equal value
All the silver or gold brought IN BY one
owner Is known as a melt Each melt Is
| handled separately up TO the moment the
| refining process begins. II the owner
take II away before Il Is refined. he will
| take the Identical metal he brought Rc-
| fning Is done IN wholesale quantities. and
| u an owner wants refined metal he must
surrender his impure bullion and receive
| IN refined metal tho quantity the tests
have shown 20 exist IN the gross bars.
| The melting furnaces are run from
o'clock 10 daily. The fuel Is gas. aided
| by a blast. To melt silver It takes 800 de-
| rrecs Fahrenheit. 10 melt gold. 800 de-
! rrccs This heat viii turn the metal into
| iquid in scventy-fve minutes. one fur
mace will run OF 5000 ounces OF gold In
a day. or 5000 Of silver Molten silver
| looks like weak tea heavy with sugar
| syrup: gold like rare old Tokay Each
| has an indefinite ethereal appearance
that may really exist. but which more
| probably exists IN the mind Of the OBJ
| servers only because he tries TO appreciate
the extreme value OF the i,quid as % is
poured like water from furnace 10 mold.
! The ordinary mold Is OF the size OF a
building brick II Is OF steel the inner
surface highly polished ana smeaerd with
sweet lard A. the rich food fails into
% the lard springs into flame. and keeps
| on burning after the metal has come 70
| rest. making "a little wall OF IRE about n.
| The odor Of burning lard Is strong In the
| furnaee-room while q melt is being pour
cd on Each mold when full viii hold
| 40 ounces OF silver or 800 Of gold. The
| metal is left 20 stand In the moids but n
| moment for the Instant Il Is hard enough
| 10 stand alone Il is turned out onto a
metal table. At first n Is a deep red then
| gradually coola and assumes its proper
color The weight and fneness are
| stamped before the bricks leave this ia
! bic
The As-ayers Mt work.
| a.. relr..a.s~