Evening star., 1935-03-31
By Randolph Roberts.

~ fair city search for the
worlds most precious metal
that in enthusiasm, at least, rivals
any of hiStorys cataclysmic tricks for
buried treasure.
Not in the surrounding streams and
rolling hills of the District, however.
But, of all places, in the old family
trunk, grandma's relic chest and
Uncle Ezra's discarded desk.
Washington's 1885 gold rush is on!
Every imaginable type of person is
involved, from Minnie the kitchen
maid to your wealthy Cousin Emma,
from Sam the cab driver to Eddie the
bootblack.
And what, pray tell, is the cause of
all this? What conceivable kind of
gold suddenly famed the enthusiasm
of all these worthless? Today's situa-
ton dates back to early January,
1885, when President Roosevelt estab-
lished the new high price of S35 an
ounce for the yellow metal. At about
the same time the Treasury Depart
ment announced that holders of old
gold in the form of jeTelry, orna-
ments, trinkets and even dental
scraps might sell their holdings, in
person or by mail, directly to the
various United States mints or Fed
eral assay offices.
From a Nationwide standpoint,
Business Week reports, it is estimated
that American dealers, spectators
and just plain folks held at that time
about a billion dollars worth of gold
scrap. But today most Of this has
been melted down.
NOBODY seems to have the slight
4 est idea as to just how much old
gold there is in Washington. Ask the
Treasury heads and they maintain
dignihed but knowing silence. But
there's one thing certain. Everybody's
becoming acutely gold conscious.
Dealers have increased the excitement
by advertising on a large scale for
outmoded jewelry. Dentists have been
gathering together all the dental
scrap they can muster. Junkmen are
scurrying from house to house, buy
ing in as many trinkets as they can.
Very often they pay only fraction
of the true worth. SO that legitimate
dealers are banding together to warn
individual sellers against all but duly
licensed dealers. However, more about
this later.
Old watches head the list of scrap
gold turned in to the Treasury, fol-
lowed closely by wedding rings,
brooches, toilet sets, ornamented mir
rors, fraternity emblems and shoe
buckles. Even baby pins and snuff
boxes.
So we are told by Miss Mary
O'Reilly, assistant director of the
United States Mint, with headquar-
ters here. Silver-haired, soft spoken,
Miss O'Reilly is known as one of
Americas outstanding authorities on
gold. And rightly so. During some IS
years of active service with Uncle
Sam she has worked her way from an
obscure clerkship to position of
eminence among the worlds women
OF achievement.
1t is easy to understand why the
rush began, Miss O'Reilly says. For
gold is money. From earliest history
it has been the foundation of finance.
The new high price means quick cash
in the pockets of innumerable own
ers of ancient jewelry which in most
instances is woefully out-of date, be-
sides an immediate and substantial
profit for dealers, refiners and users
of the precious metal in industry and
the arts.
Small wonder then that a food of
gold is seeping out of private holdings
and finding its way to the mints and
assay Offices, where 1t is weighed, its
value judged, payment made to sellers
and the metal refined. Customarily
all this takes place within a week or
10 days-if deposits are made by mail.
And even quicker if by person.
Outstanding among family heir
looms turned in for cash to local
dealers was an elaborately decorated,
heart-shaped mirror, ostensibly de-
vised for use at milady's dressing
table. This was generously covered
with coy cupids frolicking about with
enormous bows and arrows and
cheerful cherubs playing the harp.
Close examination revealed that it
was q "phony"-made of brass with
an ingeniously devised covering of
gold plate heavy enough to trick the
eye but too thin to be worth more
than q couple of dollars.
"A GIANT dish about IL inches in
"A diameter excited the fancy Of
one dealer here. Beautifully wrought,
1t weighed six pounds and If pure,
solid gold, would have brought over
$4,000. Furthermore, it looked like
q genuine antique. But 1t turned out
to be only a cleverly made copy of a
famous Russian dinner piece. Even so.
1t would be worth possibly 500 to
certain collectors. However. the actual