He may find one of the many answers to that question in some of the opportunities of the jewelry trade. If he has two good hands and good eyesight, and if he has any mechanical bent, he may become in this trade the equal of any worker in it. One artificial leg or even two constitutes no serious handicap in this line of work. If, in addition to mechanical aptitude, he has any artistic creative capacity, he can become very expert and earn an assured income permanently.
Jewelry making is an old trade with a pedigree reaching back into medieval and ancient times. In those days it was more an art than an industry. Its master craftsmen were known by name and were famous for their particular skills. In recent times the installation of machinery has made it possible to produce some standardized articles by the gross instead of by the piece, thus greatly cheapening output. Fine-grade factories working chiefly in platinum still use hand processes and make their necklaces, brooches, and other pieces from individual designs and patterns. Cheaper-grade factories work more in gold and make many of their articles, such as cuff links, bracelets, and rings, of a standard pattern, which is stamped out by machines, the articles being turned out by the gross or dozen.
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.