Smyrna times., 1933-04-12
OLD JEWELRY
TO HELP NEEDY
New Workers Donate Worn
Rings, Gold Pieces, Even
Gold Teeth
CONVERTED INTO CASH

New YOrk.-AIrS. ]. b. Walker
prominent parishioner of Trinity
church, never envisioned herself as
a junk dealer of consequence, but
that is what she has turned out to
be. much to the net gain of the city S
idle thousands. This was demon
strated recently when dignified old
gentlemen surreptitiOusly dropped
gold false teeth, along with old um-
brella and cane handles, watch
fObs. lOdgepins, stickpins, and cuff
buttons into the collection plate at
Trinity, adding to a constantly
changing heap of odds and ends,
which Mrs. Walker began collecting
last fall as her personal cOntribu-
ton to the jObless.
AT first Mrs. Walker, wife of DR..
]. b. Walker, collected such arti-
cles from her friends. So rich proved
the treasure from old bureau draw
ers, however, that before long she
had made five trips downtown to
the government assay office, had
added some two pounds of gold to
the national resources and had
turned to the unemployed fund of
the Episcopal churches, under the
leadership of Bishop Gilbert, assist
ant to Bishop Manning, some $500.
Gold and Silver.
Soon, all of Mrs. Walkers friends
in the Church WOmen's league be
gan rifling the bureau drawers of
their friends. Now the women have
established headquarters at the AL
lerton house and there, between
ten and four o'clock every day,
fairly steady procession Of people
come, bringing everything from old
wedding rings and gold teeth to sill
yer napkin rings and picture
frames. In the meantime the Little
Church Around the Corner and
Grace church have also collected
Sunday offerings Of gold and silver
for the Junk shop" and st.
Thomas and st. Bartholomew will
inaugurate a similar gift day very
soon - and these churches, Mrs.
Walker believes, offer great possibil-
tiles. If each ST. Thomas bride,
says Mrs. Walker, brought in all Of
the gold and silver wedding pres
ents which she had never used and
never wanted, the unemployed would
be considerably enriched.
"Men are walking gold Mines"
Mrs. Walker said. There isn't a
man in this town, scarcely, who
hasn't a gold gift pencil Of an old
stickpin, or one Of set Of gold cuff
links somewhere. Why, one day
at a Philharmonic concert, I ap-
preached the woman sitting next to
me on this subject had met her,
of course-and a gentleman next To
her overheard me He fished through
his pockets, produced a gold good
luck piece he had been carrying for
20 years and added that he had any
number of items at home he'd send
me.
Every One Saves Gold.
you see, nobody throws gold
away, even when it is only one ear
ring left Of set, or one cuff link,
or even an old gold tooth. Yet, they
never do anything with them. They
enough to melt down them
have to have 800
worth, or five ounces, before the
will melt it for you
and, although people have no use
for these things, an ingrained in
stinct Of thrift causes them never
to throw away any gold article"
The collection of silver is not
melted because Of the low market
value Of silver at the present time,
But Mrs. Walker has found a mar /
ket among various antique dealers,
who often give her very good |
prices for old silver articles, espe-
cially now that VictOrianism is be-
ing revived. All of the gold is melt +
ed and the alloy removed, except in .
very rare instances, when an un-
usual article brings more than its
gold value from a dealer.
''Many people make a point of .
having their contributions melted"
she said. "Often it has names and
1ates or initials, and while the own
ers do not mind giving it up imper-
sonally to the government, they do
not like to think of it as passing into
)ther hands,"
One of the richest sources of in
come has been from gold wedding
-ings. The modern woman has, in
many cases, replaced her heavy gold
Wedding ring with a new platinum
md diamond. Divorces and deaths
llso have added to the number of
rings laid away in the old
ewel cases for no particular pur-
lose.