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“Portable Source of Wealth--Little Gold Dust Factory in Each Man's Pocket Out West,” 1908

Just a bit of coin Americana-- "Pocket Pieces for Profit"!

Comments

  • tincuptincup Posts: 5,110 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have no doubt that there were those who did this! Neat article... thanks for sharing.

    ----- kj
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,084 ✭✭✭✭✭

    People would also "sweat" gold coins by putting a bunch of them in a box and then shake the box vigorously and then collect the gold dust from the box.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • ShurkeShurke Posts: 344 ✭✭✭✭

    “…away out west near Detroit or Denver or somewhere in the neighborhood…”

    Lol. Geography doesn’t seem to have been one of this reporter’s strong suits.

  • DocBenjaminDocBenjamin Posts: 1,249 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In Detroit, we always kept our hands on our pockets.

  • vplite99vplite99 Posts: 1,265 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This was tongue-in-cheek I'm pretty sure.

    “…away out west near Detroit or Denver or somewhere in the neighborhood…”

    Vplite99
  • ShurkeShurke Posts: 344 ✭✭✭✭

    @vplite99 said:
    This was tongue-in-cheek I'm pretty sure.

    “…away out west near Detroit or Denver or somewhere in the neighborhood…”

    Very likely. I was just struck by the fact that 1908 was only 40-50 years removed from a time when areas east of the Mississippi (like Michigan) were genuinely considered to be “out west.”

  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 24,323 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Each year the San Francisco Mint would remove and carefully burn the very large oriental rug in its cash room. This is the room where miners would bring their gold dust to be deposited in return for gold coins. The mint recovered enough lost gold dust from this process to buy a new rug for the cash room. I was told this by a guide when visiting the old San Francisco Mint back in Feb. of 1977.

    All glory is fleeting.

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