TEST FOR SILVER.
- 24 grains Nitre of Silver.
- 30 drops Nitric Acid.
- 1 ounce Water.
The above tests should be taken in conjunction with Diameter, Thickness, and Weight, the tests used at the Mint.
GLOSSARY.
Terms used in treating of Bullion, Mints, Coinage, and Money.
Assaying.—Chemical analysis of metals or ores. This term is employed in reference to mints and coinage, refers particularly to the process for determining the component parts and relative proportions of a mixed alloy of gold and silver, or the various alloys used for the manufacture of minor coins.
Refining.—Extract of base from precious metals; usually performed by the aid of heat and oxidizing fluxes.
Parting.—The separation of gold and silver when the two metals compose an alloy, either native or artificial, for the purpose of obtaining the metals, respectively, in the form of fine bars. This is accomplished, first, by dissolving the silver with acids and subsequently precipitating; or, second, by converting silver into chloride by heat and chlorine gas, and then reducing the chloride to a metallic state.
Alloying.—Compounding two or more metals together in suitable or legal proportions for coinage. Gold and silver are alloyed with copper for standard coins, and alloys are variously made of nickel and copper, or of copper, tin, and zinc for minor coins.
Fine Bars.—Gold and silver bars resulting from the operations of parting and refining. Bars containing 99 per cent. of pure metal are generally considered as fine bars.
Unparted Bullion.—Gold containing silver or silver containing gold which has not been subjected to the parting operation.
Amalgam.—Gold and silver extracted from ores or other substances by the use of mercury and left in a porous or spongy condition, when the mercury is removed by distillation.
Fineness.—A term indicating the proportion of pure metal contained in a piece of gold or silver. Fineness is expressed in thousandths; that is, pure metal is 1000. United States coin is ⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ fine, or decimally .900 fine. Fineness is estimated by jewelers and workers in the precious metals by “carats,” pure metal being 24 carats. Thus 22 carats, the British standard for gold coins, is ²²⁄₂₄, or decimally, 916⅔ fine.
Deposit—Melting.—The operation of melting a deposit of gold or silver at the Mint to secure a homogeneity of metals, preliminary to taking a sample for assaying.
Remedy of the Mint.—The legal variation allowed from the fineness and weight prescribed by law for the coins.
Trial of the Pyx.—The annual test made by special commissioners of the fineness and weight of coins reserved from each delivery of coin by the coiner to the superintendent. These coins are known as Pyx coins, because kept in a pyx or chest.
Refractory Bullion.—Gold or silver bullion which contains a small percentage of lead, tin, or antimony, and which is therefore too hard or brittle to roll, cut, or stamp with facility.
Wastage.—The amount of gold and silver lost in the processes which these metals undergo preparatory to striking the coins. This “wastage” by law must not exceed a certain percentage of the gross amount of metals worked.
Sweepings.—The ashes, fluxes, crucibles, sweepings, and all other refuse materials from rooms in which the metals are worked, containing a small amount of gold and silver.
Standard.—The weight and fineness fixed by law for the coins; hence the term “standard weight” or “standard fineness.”
Base Bullion.—Gold or silver bullion not fit for coinage purposes, by reason of the presence of base metals, until refined.
Mint Mark.—The letter or mark on the coin, designating the mint at which it was struck; as “S” for San Francisco, “C C” for Carson City, “O” for New Orleans.[30]
Money of Account.—The ideal unit, or money term, in which accounts are stated or transactions made, as the pound sterling of Great Britain, the dollar of the United States, the franc of France, and the reichsmark of the German Empire.
Coins of Standard Value.—In modern times a government first establishes a money of account or ideal unit, and then fixes by law the quantity of gold or silver which shall, in the form of a coin with unlimited legal-tender power, represent that ideal unit. Such coins, with their multiples and divisions, are termed “coins of standard value” or “standard coins.”
Subsidiary Coins.—In the United States silver coins of less denomination than the dollar, which have a nominal value exceeding their intrinsic or bullion value, and limited as legal tender to sums not exceeding five dollars.
Minor Coins.—Coins of small denominations used for change, and struck from other metals than gold or silver.
Mint Prices of Gold and Silver (Coining Value).—The rate per standard ounce at which the mint converts bullion into legal-tender coins. The coining rate of an ounce of standard gold bullion, i. e., bullion ⁹⁰⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ fine in the United States is $18,604+. The coining rate of the silver dollar of 412½ grains, discontinued by law April 1, 1873, was $1.16⁴⁄₁₁ per standard ounce.
The Basis of the Money System of all civilized nations is gold or silver, or both, in a ratio fixed by law. The relative valuation of the two metals in the coins of nations using the double standard, is about one of gold to fifteen and a half of silver.
Partial List of Medals in Copper-Bronzed, also, in Gold and Silver, which may be obtained at the Mint.
The diameter of the medals is expressed by numbers, each of which indicates the sixteenth of an inch.
Medals struck to order in gold, silver, or bronze, from dies of public institutions.