Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-12-03
OuR COLD PIECES
They Once Figured In an odd
Way In the jewelry Trade.
WENT INTO THE MELTING POT.
THOR Common uss For Manufacturing
Purposes Alarmed Uncle Sam, and
Rs Quickly Cured the Evil " Pep
perino" the Coins With iridium.


IN old time manufacturing lcwclcr
Tells how The United States govern
mcnl stopped soue forty odd ycalS u;n
TIE melting ~ ~ twenty cpNar god
ASsS by persons WIN wlsac 10 uae
t.'t metal Ia the manufacture NJ Hold
,rGe,ry
In those DAYS II was the cgetpm ~
many Of III lcwclry makers to usc
these coinAs tcad of ii'pine the g,.d,
as n matter of convenience So thcy
went 10 u bank aud got twenty dollar
gnllplcccs enoush. or len dolarones, Tor
that ulat,ct. to supply sul,lcIcu, ,sctal
for the work In hand. The gold p'cecs
hci'lr - carats nnc - cilats hcilig
absolutely pure gold. II was not dilll.
rult for the Jewellers to melt them M
and ndd the necessary alloys 10 pro
darc he degree vi hncncss desired for
tir .,'wclry they were going to make
However" says the Icwclcr. III
was not long after this practice he.
';';pr more nr less gc'ierll that the
government authorities began tp won.
i,cr what was becoming Of the twenty
lollrr gold coins, They began missing
the ten dollar uncs, too, but the dis
appearance of the former was by fur
the more rapid. The officials did not
think that the people of the country
were boarding the gold. because most
of the smaller coins remained IN cir
cuutlun. SO a quiet investigation was
begun. and II was not long before u
was discovered that the makers OF
gold Jcwclry were melting them NJ
for trade purpv%as.
Having found the cause, II was not
difilcult Tor the officials 10 effect cure
They did II by 'pepperlng the twenty
dollar coins with iridium. which IL
not altogether unlike black emery Ia
the crl;dc stale. requiring a heat ~
3.5i2 degrees =. 10 melt Il Gold. oit
the other hand. can 10 melted ut l.ola
degrees I. From this II II easy to see
that tile unsuspcctlnG manufacturer
melting ~ gold pieces nt the temper
aturc REQUIRED. got n number ~ IN.
melted slpccks Of lrIdum IN his metal
when he let II cool THIS made trouble
when the metal was worked MP.
al the time this was being done
there was great vogue fur ilne Etrns
can work IN solid gold which required
a perfectly smooth surface IN or,.cr 10
he produced properly imagine the dis
may OF the Jewellers. therefore. when
they found the much needed smooth
surface dotted here aud there with u.
tie pcppcr.!ke specks OF iridium. To
leave them IN meant that the decorn.
tive work could not be done properly.
and to take them out meant leaving
the piece pockmnrked with tiny holes
II was not long before the gold pieces,
whether they contained iridium or not.
were eyed with suspicion by the man.
ufacturcrs. who then secured their
metal from other sources.
Another way In which iridium caus-
ed some trouble for the gold jewelry
trade had its birth In the assay Office.
while II was not often the case. It was
not rare thing up until about ten
years ago TO find sprInkling OF irI.
dium In the fine gold purchased from
the government nssnyer While this
might possibly have been avoided By u
little more care on the pnrt " the per
sons who had charge OF preparing the
scrap metal FOR refining. Il was fcner.
ally regarded IN the trade NJ nccIdcl
tai. II happcned bccnusc the cllrs nnl
filInga that were turned IN for rciin'ni:
by the makers or cold pens rontnincl
tiny hits ~ iridium. which bccrllgc "
Its bnrlncss IN used for tipping the
pens. This does not hnpppn any more
Twenty dollar gold pieces figured N
another Interesting way in'thr Old 4 ~
in the jewclry trade. but IN way ,,ai
affected the trade much mpIc indirect
~ than directly Knowing that n good
price could I've had for scrap gold frol''
the rcnncrs. the gold probably nndin''
an ultimate purchaser IN the Jewelry
trade. ilnscrupuloilS rcrstIs Ind sev
eral ways " obtaining tlAs scrap and
still leaving enough Of the coins 70 pass
them on uilslispectIng trndcsmep nn'l
t..L. stus ,s,asn s,nt an raf,sl a,,stseb ~,