The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-04-27
MONEY COVERED VASE |
Soldered on a Large Copper
Vase Valued at $4,000.
A LIES WORK FINISHED
Twenty-three Years Of Patient Labor
Required to Complete It.-spanish
Coins Of Pizarros Time, Roman
Coins Of the caesers and Amerl.
can Coppers.

can Coppers.
After twenty-three years of patient
labor Eduard Rausch, of Philadelphia,
sits in the front parlor of his little
home, nursing his rheumatic toe, and
admiring the result of his toll all day
long.
1t is a huge vase completely covered
by coins-coins of all nations and all
ages and 1t Is no idle boast of his that
no similar work was ever completed
or perhaps dreamed of by any man Of
the dead or the living.
II the fancy of the Goldman cornlce
maker should delve past the mere
outward appearance of those 1000
shiny scrapings of dead ages. wealth
which he stinted himself through q
quarter century to secure, he might
see more than remarkable orna-
ment which he would be willing to
part with for a good-sized fortune.
He might find material in that con.
temptation for greater elegy than
that of the eighteenth century poet
Here are Spanish gold coins of Pizar.
ro's time rubbing edges with Ameri.
can coppers; crude African money,
bolts and bars, that might have been
used by savages as weapons with
good effect. soldered beside the fat
silver coins of ancient Greece.
Other African coins there are in the
shape of horse shoes, fashioned as IL
the more handily to permit physical
strife for their possession which ex.
perience had proven unavoidable.
Sicilian spoon money and Jayaneso
oblong coins, the Nuremburg tiny
speck Of gold the smallest coin in tho
world, only an eighth of an inch in
diameter, and Japanese bars and forks
that passed as bullion when the world
was younger; Roman money that the
Caesers may have touched, shell
money of untutored seashore tribes
not one space of history has been left
unrepresented on this unprecedented
vase.
Rausch has surrounded it by q
glass case and brass railing. Peo-
pie walk into the little front parlor
of his home, and stand gazing in mute
wonder. Then they look at its maker
sitting with his foot propped on a
chair and his pipe in his mouth,
chucklng at their admiration.
"Oh, it's never been done BEFORE"
he said to-day, in his quaint semi
Bavarian patois, there never was
anything like it. Twenty-Five years
have been, since was a young man,
gathering those. Slowly, slowly, you
know. Why some of those coins took
big pieces out of my pay. There,
that" pointing to one not particularly
imposing specimen, "cost me Sl1G.
and several others little less and
others more"
Many of the collection have in
creased in value since the time
Rausch came into their possession
He started to collect in 1879 and was
so fortunate in his bargains and ex-
changes that he determined to con-
tinue as a life work what had begun
as a fad. Two years later he con.
ceived the vase idea and constructed
one of copper, on graceful lines, over
five feet in height and thirty-two
inches in diameter at its widest part.
He started to solder on his collection
but it was not long before it had all
been used and to decorate but a small
portion of the surface. Then he cast
about him to get more material
But a wife and growing family in.
terceded in the midst Of this pastime
and Rausch felt the necessity Of find
Ing coins that had to be used for other
purposes than to ornament a copper
vase. The recompense Of his labor
was not sufficient to permit much to
be expended beyond domestic needs
and some had to be laid by.
With the perseverance of his race
however, and the belief that he was
making a good investment, Rausch
put every available cent into the pur
chase Of rare coins. Few he received
as gifts. Many were hard to get, even
with money. Sometimes work on the
vase would stop for months before
another metal treasure was obtained
to hide a dull patch Of sheet copper.
Last week he finished it, and bough
a bunch Of flowers to put in the top O
his vase. Rausch says he ought Il
get $4,000 for It, He was asked 1
the pieces could be taken off
the purchasing collector chose to hav'
them detached, without injuring them
The idea had not occurred to him.
mo, they would not be damaged
you pulled them off," said he. "Bu
that would make bare patches on tn
vase"