New-York tribune., 1903-07-19
PACKING GOLD LEAF.
Il Delicate Work, Requiring Erpert
Use of the Breath.

One may sometimes see protrudlng from the wall
of a business building in the downtown districts
mans hand and of heroic size The hahd
grasps a hammer and the arm is tensed into
masterful blow. The whole is gilded. 1t is the
sign of a gold beater's establishment.
Gold beating is Cne of the trades that in its final
issues employs a certain number OF slris anu
women There are not many of them, compared
with the crowds who work at millinery, finishing,
underwear, neckwear and other similar calhngs
After the gold is beaten it has to be packed In
convenient form TO place on the market This Is
where the girls come in. They pack the gold leaf
The curious thing about gold leaf packing is that
ii is done almost entirely with the breath. 80
delicate is the operation involved In transferring
a sheet of almost transparent gold leaf from one
place to another that only by llght pun OF oreah
is 1t possible to do it at ALL
1t takes girl about six weeks of apprenticeship,
during which she gives her time. 10 become expert
at the busness-a bright girl, that is to say. A
slow unteachable girl might require twice as long
There girls who cannot learn at all.
These generally drop out after three or four weeks
as nobody wants to bother with them, and they
themselves are eager to get into a more congenial
lire.
Gold leaf packing consists in lifting the eXqui-
sitey thin leaves of gold from between the leaves of
parchment in which they come from the gold
beater's hands to a board where they are cut TO d
perfect square, and then in placing them between
the leaves of the book IN which they are sold. The
leaves of parchment make what is called mould.
1880
consequently when filed. there are 1000 sheets of
gold leaf in it. Moulds come from England; at
least the skin of which they are made does.
There is a secret about the sizing of the material
which is understood only in England. Each leaf
in the mould is inches square.
When the gold leaf gets into the mould 1t is pretty
far along its journey to the consumer. Behind
the mould many processes
The gold. to begin with comes in the form of bars
nuggets, and has to be weighed and melted and
made into inch-wide ribbons before anything can
be done with 1t. The ribbon is then into inch
squares and placed in the cutch, which is book
of leaves of parchment and paper Between the
leaves of the cutch the inch squares of stiff, yellow
ribbon beaten until they spread out to about
three and one-half inches square. They then
transferred to the shoulder, another book of skin
leaves, and beaten, beaten, beaten under the ham,
of stalwart
When each leaf is beaten thin that from eight
to ten pennyWeghtS of gold be taken from the
edges of the shoulder, the leaves again trans
ferred. this time to the mould
In the mould they beaten four hours more.
All the beating is done with wooden hammer,
weighing from seven to eighteen pounds on a
granite post. One end of this granite post passes
through the flooring and rests on the bare ground,
the idea being that the rebound which comes from
striking the hammer on the granite Lghtens the
task for the worker AS it is gold beating is a
hard and monotonous calling.
The gold that is used for gold leaf is from % TO %
carat A little alloy of copper and silver is added