The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-08-03

to admire a gold filed" watcn that he,
schoolboy grandson had purchased fo1
$40.
well, 1t really must have been com
Tort, mother, commented the old lady's
daughter, ito know what you were buy.
ing. Nowadays we only think we know
Both women had long entertained thai
happy confidence in the integrity of the
good old days. Even the father of the
watch-buying child agreed, as young
husband should. with his wife and he,
mother. That is, he agreed until las,
Saturday. He was going to take a rins
that day to be adjusted by manufacture
ing jeweler. ~ 3,
And while you're there suggested his
wife, "you might as well sell him these
two gold buttons. They're mammals
She got them when she was very little
years and years ago, I suppose abou,
1910. Ones lost and the sets spoiled
And I'm just sure they're real, because
our jeweler said so yesterday, only he
doesn't buy old jewelry." ~
Gold on the Outside. "..
lgnatius therefore-he wasn't Ignatius
but What imports?" as they say at
boarding school-took the old buttons
They exhibited a rich, genuine luster, a
beautiful design in delicate basket work
eyes, this is gold,'' said the manufac-
turing jeweler, pushing aside his scales
with a violence that set their dainty
wings into a frightened futter. This is
gold,"' tapping the surface Of one old
button, ''hut you won't mind if I open
her up?" -.
inf cd 60 cfr CIV Of aor1F
screw and foam that Ignatius replied in
stinctively, Delighted, I'm sure"
At once went the button into vice
and a chisel-y tool into the button.
But this continued the jeWeler, twist
ing his head on one side and peering
with one eye, like hen, into the button
as ''she" was Opened up,"-"This isn't
gold.''
Ignatius peared also. The button was
filled solidly with gray, lack-luster lead.
well, I'm sure they were bought fol
gold" he insisted, beginning to lose faith
in the early days of the republic.
Willy Ance>tors.'
OF course they were,' returned the
opener of metallurgical oysters. "O1
course they were. That's the difference
between us and our ancestors. We buy
imitation jewelly now, and we know it
They bought: Imitation jewelry, and didn'1
know it. We say Go to! All men are
liars They paid gold prices or brass
and recited prosy speeches about the
honest artisan But when it comes tt
palming off fony jewelry upon the inno-
cent I'll bet an ancestor against any ole
descendant that ever plated brass. Dr..
+ 'tSixty years ago, when these buttons
were bought, 100, or maybe 200 years ago
goldsniths could make plated silver ant
plated gold even more deceptive than W,
can at present. The method was differ.
ent They knew nothing of electro-plat.
ing They never put the article to be
plated in a chemical bath, so that parti
cles Of dissolved gold or silver would
gradually collect upon the surface Of the
inferior metal. That's the up-to-date
way and the cheaper, quicker way. But
1t isn't the most convincing way; it ISM
the way Of those honest old frauds, on.
forebears.
Making Button.
when they wanted to make a buttor
like this, a gold button, they repeated
an edifying little saw from Poor Rich
ards almanac and made a gold button
1t was gold all right enough, but it was
/ only gold leaf, hardly thicker than what
the sign painters use for gliding. Ths
button was made in halves. Each hall
was nodded in a die. Dienaking isn't Z
modern scheme, as some think. Those ole
boys made dies more carefully, more
perfectly, than we do, and originated thu
designs as well. Our best dies as gen
eral thing, merely repeat the old designs
The halves of the button, when shaped
were filled with this lead and the1
soldered together so neatly that, as yo,
see. there's not a sign of juncture. Tha
made a gold button with a perfect,
natural color, unlike our plated gold. i
was a button that could be tested will
acid and still prove gold and so, as yo,
have said, it was probably bought TO,
gold. : 81 a.. Il
Another old system Of plating was tt
use brass and solder with a. thin shee
of gold or silver. Now, look at this can
dlestick.'' ~
Ancestral CandIestick.
1t was a noble, ancestral candlestick. G
candlestick to draw resolutions from an,
Revolutionary Son or verses from any
Daughter. 1t still shone with honest Co
lonial radiance save and except in certai,
blurred spots, spots, no doubt, Of ancient
haloWed dirt. It was ponderous can
dlestick, foot In height Near its bas.
was the inscription Shamrock Lodge. A
D. 1923, and higher up was cut the mys
tic compass of Free and Accepted Ma
scnry. The venerable utensil hae
glfstened for years upon the altar or a.
lodge in Ireland. Then the candlestick
passed into the hands of a lodge officer,
who carried it to America and used it
here before thes Revolutionary war;
They told me- continued the Ramsey
county Cellini, that this candle was
lighted and put in window in Phtladel-
phia to celebrate the victory at York
town. Well, mebbe, mebbe-anyhow, dye
sec that spot"
The jeweler jabbed a little industrial
dagger into one Of the hallowed blem-
ishes. He twisted the dagger and scraped
away a bit Of soft and shineless metal
Solder, you see, pure solder The sill.
yer is this white shiny leaf alongside"
Another scrape and the shiny leaf
broke loose.
Il. Now, Ill dig deeper" He dug
d There! That's brass!' as the bottom
Of the digging grew bright and yellow
Anybody can tell sob, yes. any
body
Covered with Silver.
That's the whole trick. The candle.
stick was made neatly of brass, yes, neat.
II and artisticalIy, too, better than VIZ
would probably make 1t now, even Of
pure silver. Then the stick was p1ungee
into melted solder and well coated. Final
", silver that had been hammered ou
into thin. very thin, sheets was CAREFUL,
stuck on after the solder-covered stool
had been slightly heated. The work wa!
accurately done, and when the whole
thing was well polished up it became 6