U.S. Mint; Gold Running to Waste

[leeg]

I run into these interesting stories as I do research for my book. Just wanted to share one:

“THREE thousand dollars for an old tin roof would be pretty steep price, but the man who gets, for that sum, the battered roof from the old Tabernacle Church at Broad Street and South Penn square, which is now being torn away, will be in great luck, says the Philadelphia Record. Some years ago the paint was scraped off the old roof and yielded $5,000 in fine gold. It is almost certain to yield as much this time. The gold comes from the mint. When gold is being refined, a considerable quantity of it volatilizes with the smoke through the chimney, and as soon as it strikes the air it falls. Much of it falls on the roof of the mint, so much of it that the officials save even the water that falls upon it during a shower. All the drains from the roof are connected with large vats in the cellar of the mint. Before the water finally gets to the sewer it is strained through many blankets and sieves, which retain the gold. Not-withstanding all these precautions, the gold that is annually washed into the Delaware from the mint is said to be worth thousands of dollars. Every particle of dirt swept up about the mint is carefully stored away with the washings from the roof, and once every year it is sold to the highest bidder, as it cannot be used at the mint.’—Ex.

If this is true, it might be worth while to invent some plan by which an exhaust fan could be applied to the chimney, and the smoke ‘de-volatilized’ before it gets away with its treasure.”²

^{Shows how far we've come in a relatively short period of time.}

² HathiTrust, American Journal of Numismatics and Bulletin of American Numismatic and Archaeological Societies,  Gold Running to Waste, Quarterly. Vol. XXVI, July, 1891–July, 1892. William T. R. Marvin, of the Boston Numismatic Society, Lyman H. Low of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, New York, Editors. Boston: Press of T. R. Marvin & Son, M DCC XCII, p. 9.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jtryka]

That's a very interesting article and shows how much things have evolved over the years.  I am a big fan of "The Secret History of the First United States Mint" which has many such stories and the many treasures found in the building over the years before it was finally torn down.

[Just Bob]

I would never have thought that gold would vaporize when being refined. Very interesting.

[Conder101]

With any liquid some will atoms/molecules will have enough energy to  leave the liquid and become a gas even if the liquid is not boiling.  The metal atoms can be carried off but will have enough weight to eventually settle back out of the air creating a fine "dust plume" on surfaces as you move downwind.  It may be fine enough that you can't see it but it is there and it can be washed together concentrated and reclaimed.

[leeg]

Thanks all for your comments.  

[numisport]

Since gold atoms migrate through electrolysis as well I can understand this to some extent. Just seems incredible that heavy metal particles end up on the roof ! I'm gonna have to take a chemistry course again which could prove fatal.

[Zebo]

Looks like another book I'll have to buy!

[Conder101]

15 hours ago, numisport said:

Just seems incredible that heavy metal particles end up on the roof !

You are basically talking about individual atoms being battered about  by air molecules and being carried along by the hot rising air.  And they would be settling out the whole way so the further you get from the furnace the less gold there would be to settle out.  But think about this, you know how far dust particles can be carried, and a dust particle is far heavier than a gold atom.

[Just Bob]

On 10/25/2018 at 11:22 PM, leeg said:

the gold that is annually washed into the Delaware from the mint is said to be worth thousands of dollars. 

 

I found this statement particularly intriguing, and it made me curious about how much gold was actually refined yearly at the mint. I couldn't find any information in any of my reference books, so I decided that the next best thing would be to determine  the total amount of gold coined in a year, and compute its weight. I chose the year 1889, since it was close to the time of the article the OP cited, and it was the last year for both the gold dollar and three dollar coins. I realize that this is not really an indication of how much gold was actually refined during a given year, since the amount refined would not necessarily equal the amount minted. It also doesn't take into account any medals minted, nor coins minted for foreign countries. (I could not find any record of the mint creating gold coins for any foreign country before 1899, but I only have one book on the subject,  so my information is limited.) I assume that the gold used for coinage at the branch mints was refined in Philadelphia, so I added the totals of all coins, including proofs. Bear in mind that this is just one year, and that mintage figures for other years would be different, possibly by a large amount.The total weight of gold minted into US coins  that particular year was 830,111.51 troy ounces, or 69,175.96 troy pounds. That translates to 56,921.93 pounds avoirdupois, or just under 28 1/2 tons. For you metrics folks, that is 25,819.35 kilograms. I am not sure how meaningful that information is, but I found it an interesting exercise.

[leeg]

Good stuff all.