The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-30
OUR NAVAL HEROES.

tween the star points The design has
been made purposely simple.
The United States Mint in Philadelphia
was chosen because Of its fine facilities,
and the mint authorities. in their turn.
are determined to spare no effort to turn
out these medals with that peculiarly
beautiful finish for which the mint OF
Paris is famed the world over. The
Hudson" or revenue cutter service Car
denas medal designed and struck at the
Philadelphia mint, is the first sample of
tie new process and the authorities nave
ample reason to be proud of their hands
work il Fl.
No small share of the beauty of the
Partisan medal is due to the type of
bronze used. Heretofore most of our
medals have been of plain copper. and
relatively few have been of copper with
finish of bronze. Just how tn duplicate
that Partisan bronze was Il matter of a
good deal of study. The meta!lur gist OF
the mint. however. was equal to the task.
An analysis of a French medal showed
the composition to he mainly II COPPER
with alloys of zine and tin. hat that did
not settle the proportions of each tistt
had to go into each melt in the smelling
furnace. 1t is we'll known that zine. in
melting. is lost 10 apprecia ..e extent
centage of the tin. and the difficulty
Of discovering Just what loss To allow
for the stumbling block to the whole
secret. This, however. has now been de-
termined and the authorities of the
mint have tucked away their knowledge
as one Of the traae secrets of the insttu-
tion-a right to which they have deserv-
eddy earned.
Even With carefully prepared designs
the iinishe d medal woult he bat clumsy
~ odUct hut for the skilful intaypreta ION
of that design by the diemaker, or die
sinNer, he used to lie called. Tn" first
step in his work is the preparation of
what ne terms his model.
The model for the die is usually made
of clay or some composition having the
best characteristics of clay. y prepara
tion called plasterin-proha bly, Il mixture
of clay and glyceline-iS now generally
used because 1t retains its plastic nature
in all temperatures. and dos not have to
be kept carefully moistened during the
whole process IF modeling-in fact. it
can be hanuned OF reWorked months af-
terward. +'t
The medal department of the mint in
Philadelphia has taken on an added
scope and an added dignity within the
past year and. in its i..'v quarters. has
the anpltude ana facilities f.. the very
finest Of WuIk in the future. For years
hack, unknown to The public at LARGE. che
mint in Philadelphia has made some lof
the most beautiful dies made in this
country. While private concerns - for
whom they We're tfuck-haNe got all
tle credit. The Paris mint, famed as it
is for beautiful work tine world ovar. has
/ become what it is only by the inyisteNre
! of the laws Of France that all me dals
no matter what their object. si.all be
struck in the government ml,I,. While
! no such sweeping law is desired here, it
is essential, nevertheless. that all N.,ern-
mental work, at ltast OF III tla.lic ma
ture should be struck At the Philadelphia
, mint, ard the piimest fruit of artistic
! eXre leitra reaped in that way for The
benefit q the whole nation. Was hing-
| ton Correspondent Cincinnati Enauirer.t-