PLAN No. 958. WORKING IN PLATINUM
Processes in the platinum jewelry trade—the hammering, drawing, and soldering of the precious metal—require skilled craftsmanship.
The designer first makes the original picture or pattern of the brooch, necklace, or other piece, and if the details of the design and general character are approved he then makes an accurate pen-and-ink line drawing. He is paid from $35 to $75, possibly $100 a week.
The modeler makes a model in wax in the same way that the designer makes the picture. His wages are the same as the designer’s. Designers who are also modelers are much in demand.
The sketch or wax model then goes to the engraver, who transfers the design from the picture or wax to a flat piece of metal, engraving it lightly, in order to make a permanent record of the design. Engravers have to be very skilled and are paid from $40 to $60 per week.
The metal next goes to the jeweler, who “makes the piece”—that is, takes the flat piece of metal and hammers and models it—“using a soft lead block, upon which he rests his platinum plate, face downward, and modeling from the reverse side with various-sized blunt-nosed punches and a mallet whose head is made of rawhide.”[17] He then cuts out the design by following the engraved outline with a saw about the thickness of a coarse thread. All the leaf and so-called demelle decoration and other piercings are made in this way. The work is skilled and requires a steady hand and long practice, but can be developed from any good mechanic. It is paid by the hour, 75 cents to $1.25.[18]
[17] “Jewelry,” by De Witt A. Davidson, in “An Exhibition of American Industrial Art.”
[18] Unions claim that the wage ranges from 85 cents to $2.50 per hour.
Next the piece goes to the polisher, who polishes the back and attaches it to a frame or catch. Polishers in platinum factories are usually girls and are paid from $20 to $25 per week.
The stone setter then puts the piece into a bed of shellac to hold it firmly and mounts the diamonds, working up platinum beads out of the flat metal to hold the stones in place. Setting a row of diamonds so that they seem an uninterrupted line of brilliancy is called “pave work” and requires great skill. Stone setters are paid by the piece and make $40 to $125 per week.[19]
[19] Unions claim that the wage for this work ranges from $60 to $125 per week.
The metal is then taken off the shellac, goes once more to the polisher, and then to the finisher, who is merely a jeweler doing the particularly skilled work of final inspection and adjustment.
The number of processes in a platinum factory varies. In some cases they are so combined that one man performs several different processes. One expert may even make a whole piece from beginning to end. The tendency in this line is in fact back to the old Guild conditions at a time when the value of a jewel setting lay in its uniqueness. Very beautiful work is sometimes done in the homes of workmen. The material is called for, and the article is designed, wrought, and returned completely finished.
In cheaper-grade factories, on the other hand, processes are more subdivided, machine work being substituted for handwork. For instance, the engraver may be eliminated by stamping work out by dies instead of engraving it by hand. In this way platinum jewelry can be turned out faster, and in larger quantities than when engraved in single pieces, and of course the same skill is not required. The average wage is $25 per week. Cheaper grade factories all subdivide their processes more in this way, use more machines, and turn out work by the dozen in platinum and by the gross in gold, instead of by the piece.