TO ITRTEElf MTOFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Sunday, June 5, 1955
be sported by good eyei In the
brightening dawn.
Mercury sets well toward the
northwest an hour after the -sun
and is now a very inconspicuous
object. Red Mars sets in about
the same place half an hour
later and is also hard to spot.
Jupiter is still very bright well
up in the west by the time the
sky is dark. Saturn is somewhat
east of due south.
For the position of the bright
er fixed stars, let us observe
about 9 p.m. standard time.
White Spica is at a medium
height in the south. Not far
south of the aenrrh, orange Are
turus stands at the foot of a
large figure of a kite. Bright
Regulus, at the end of the han
dle of the heavenly Sickle, is
high in the west.
In the west-northwest, the
Twins stand side by side at
a considerable distance above
the horizon. White Castor is to
the right of his orange and
slightly brighter brother, Pol
lux. Much brighter than either,
yellow Capella glitters low in
the north - northwest. Capella
strongly resembles our own sun
in color and temperature.
Turning to the eastern half
of the sky, we find four prom
inent stars. High in the east
northeast Vega sparkles bright
ly. Note two nearby faint stars
which form a little triangle with
Vega. The left one of these is
a double-double star telescopical
ly. Excellent eyes can sometimes
detect its elongated appearance.
The least optical aid even
small opera glasses will easily
divide it into two distinct stars.
Each of these is a close double
with much higher powers.
A little lower and farther
north than Vega, we find Deneb
at the head of the Northern
Cross. This large cross now lies
on its side with Deneb at the
northern end. The other stars
are fairly dim, but easily out
line the figure. About due east
and only a little above the
horizon is Altair, the principal
star of the Eagle. Two dimmer
stars stand beside Altair, one
above and one below.
Fairly low in the south-southeast,
red Antares flashes among
the dimmer stars of the splendid
constellation, the Scorpion. .
Sky
for June
cation the sun occupied six
months earlier. So Luna is now
in the winter position of old
Sol.
The gorgeous planet Venus,
which since the first of the
year has been so splendid in
the eastern dawn, is now too
near the sun for observation in
a dark sky. However, as this
planet rises in the east-northeast
an hour before sunrise, it can
By J. HUGH PRUETT
Astronomer. Extension Division
Oregon Higher Education System
The days are now almost as
long as they will be at the sum
mer solstice. June 21. The sun
is rising far over toward the
northeast and setting well to
ward the northwest. Be sure to
note how low in the south the
full moon this week end crosses
the sky. The full moon any
month is in about the same lo-
Dead line for Sunday 'Classified fef
at noon Saturday
'4 J i ri
M' m in -i -i-ir :
DUPLICATING GENERAL Douglas MacArthur's feat as a cadet.
Lee D. Olvey of Hinesville, Ga., Is honor man in both military
and academic standing at U. S. Military Academy. He Is first
cadet since 1933 to excel In both branches. (International)
--- f rrrr.rrrrrrrrr r tm
Buried Treasure
x
'Rappa Forge' Inscription
Brings More for Pistol
Charles looked thoughtfully
at on of the five flintlock pis
tola hanging on the wall above
a sideboard, took it down and
Inquired the price..
"It's yours for only $30," said
the proprietor, and without a
moment's hesitation Charles
paid for it. - ,
"What do you want that thing
for," I asked.
"This is an exception," he said,
handing me the pistol. "At $30
I couldn't afford to pass it up.
In fact, I am somewhat sur
prised that you didn't beat me to
it and buy it as an investment."
I looked the old handgun
over carefully. It was a little
over 12 inches long. The barrel,
of brass and slightly belled, was
about seven inches in length
with a bore of approximately .65
caliber. There was an ivory
sight something which may
have been added a generation or
two after the piece was made
and a silver-banded wooden
ramrod. A silver buttplate ter-
inating in a Turk's head, a lock
plate, also of silver and with
rounded ends, and a trigger
guard of the same noble metal
made up the other high points
of the piece.
All in all it was a good exam
ple of the pistol maker's art
and was doubtless worth $30,
but I couldn't see that it was
anything to get really excited
about.
"Of course, the important
thing about it," said Charles,
"is the engraving on the barrel,
the words 'Rappa Forge.' "
I wanted to know why. His
answer was that the words stood
for Rappahanock Forge, an arms
factory owned by James Hunter,
noted Revolutionary gun maker
who was financed by Patrick
Henry. On any kind of a weapon,
he said, those words mean a sub
stantial extra value. But on a
pistol such as his they mean a
tremendous difference a fact
he demonstrated some weeks
later by getting $400 for the
piece.
RENOVATING ANTIQUE HARD WORK; IT PAYS DIVIDENDS
My niece Judith was standing
before a six-legged, drop-leaf
table of very considerable di
mensions. Part of it was cov
ered with several different colors
of paint as if various mixtures
had been spilled upon it. But
the rest of it, where she had
been working, showed promise
of a rich, reddish brown color
indicating an unusual item.
My niece graciously offered
to let me demonstrate my skill
in removing paint, but I refused.
The table, 48 inches long by
20 wide with the two leaves
each 22 inches wide, was made
of cherry wood, she said. Judg
ing from the workmanship on
the brass pulls on the single
drawer the piece had, as well as
the character and design of the
piece, her estimate of the table's
age at around 150 years semed
substantially correct.
"I got it for only $10," she
said. She got it at a secondhand
store that was having a big
markdown an every thing-must-
go sale. "And I expect to sell it
for at least $100," she added.
She did even better than that,
however, getting $150 for it.
But she had put at least 20 hours
of just plain, hard labor into the
piece.
COINS' VALUE NOT BASED SOLELY ON ITS CONDITION
Fineness of condition is by
no means a final criterion in
evaluating a coin.
I know that now, but one day
some years ago I had to learn it
the hard way. The lesson began
when a cousin of mine offered to
sell for $20 a 1796 United
States half-cent piece he had re
cently acquired.
I looked the piece over care
fully. It was clear enough the
design though the piece had
obviously seen plenty of use.
The date was good and so were
the features of the Liberty head
facing to the right. But the
crease lines in the Liberty cap
shown in the air behind the head
and without the usual pole sup
porting it were gone. Not only
that, but to my perfectionist eye
it seemed that the tips of the
arms of the "Y" in LIBERTY
above the head were worn down
so far as to be almost flush with
the rest of the coin.
As for the other side, while I
could distinctly make out the
fraction 1200 standing beneath
the wreath - enclosed words
HALF CENT, I had to look care
fully. In view of such palpable de
fects I forthwith decided to re
ject his proposal, and I even of
fered to give him $5 for the coin,
half expecting that I would let
him force me up to $10. The
offer evoked one word.
"Tightwad," he said in a tone
that showed he meant it to the
very last syllable, and he
snatched back the coin and hur
ried out. I may have grinned at
that point.
But some hours later it was
the other side of my mouth I
was using. He was back again,
richer by a full $150. A dealer
had given him that amount for
the coin, explaining that he had
a customer who had offered him
$250 for that particular issue
even if it were not in quite such
good condition, which most half
cent pieces of that date are not.
The coin 115,480 was the
total coinage of that denomina
tion for 1796, according to mint
records is today worth up to
$350.
(Released by
McClura Newspaper Syndicate)
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