FOURTEEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Sunday, August 25, 1957
Buried Treasure
7
Gold Substitutes May Be
More Valuable Than Gold
"It's not gold," the jeweler way people could get satisfac-
aid. "It happeni to be genuine tory jewelry without paying the
. . , ,. . exorbitant price of gold.
pmchbeck.1 There was little He deceived anyone
aw in hn voice and he looked about it He advertised it quite
t the iwcrd hilt admiringly. openly. Even warned against his
"Pinchbeck?" I asked, my dis- imitators of whom he had
appointment edged with curi- plenty.
osity. "But the metal kept its golden
"Exactly," the jeweler said, color longest, and sometimes he
"and very probably made by old improved upon it by washing a
Christopher himself. The date pinchbeck product in gold
looks authentic, and tlat would which is undoubtedly what was
be when Christopher Pinchbeck done with this sword hilt. It's
was in his early forties." been heavily washed."
The date, etched into the heel I looked at the hilt with new
of the blade where it entered respect. The blade it held was
the grip, was 1710. broken off about a foot down. I
"But suppose it was made by had bought it for $10, thinking
Pinchbeck himself, Jfhat then?" of having it converted into a
I asked. hunting knife. I said so.
The jeweler looked at me The jeweler didn't like the
pityingly and began to explain idea at all.
that pinchbeck, an imitation "This is a relic," he said,
gold named for it inventor and ''You should have a new blade
made of copper, zinc and tin, put in or this one mended,
had been one of the most impor- Think of the collectors of Pinch-
tant alloys for jewelers. beckiana."
"Old Pinchbeck was a gTeat I thought of them. It was ob-
artiat," the jeweler said. "He vious the jeweler was one. When
Invented hia metal merely be- he finally offered me $50 for
cause he saw It was the only the Silt, I took it
O
BEAUTIFUL PENDANT PROVES TO BE OLD PERSIAN COIN
Hank, who had recently be- much, he believed it was some-
mm engaged, wanted me to see thing that would so delight his
... . . . . ... , ul , Uil sweetheart that he would have
. m nm aa Ju uu. - mu;h lggin u
fiancee. essary.
"It' a medal of some kind. "Have you any idea what it
I'm pretty sure it's gold I've jg and what it says," he asked,
given it the acid test and I j told him that it might be a
know it's the sort of thing that coin and suggested we enter a
will appeal to her." nearby coin dealer' where we
The piece was on a short gold could look it up. .
chain. A far as I could tell by It didn't take long to find it,
looking at it. it was a medal. once I had got my hands on a
On one side was the portrait copy of Coins of the World, a
bust of tome ruler a shah prob- catalogue of 20th century items,
ably, judging from the hat he It was a Persian piece, of 10
wore which" had the kind of tomans denomination, about like
jewelled ieatherburst often our $20 gold piece. The bust of
worn by oriental rulers. the ruler was that of Ahmed
On the other side was some Shah who ruled from 1909 to
kind of an inscription, probably 1A25.
in Arabic, which was enclosed There was nothing in the cata
by a magnificent wreath. logue about what the inscrip-
Hank had bought the piece In tion said, but even if there had
Havana while visiting there been, it could not have been
some weeks before. It had cost such good news as the price,
him $50, and though he felt The value given for the piece
that possibly he had paid too was $100!
PISTOL VALUE JUMPED WITHIN A FEW YEARS
It is probably impossible to a condition that presumably
tell what American weapon has made it easier to apply the caps
had the biggest increase in curio for firing. .
value during the past decade, The weapon was a hammer
but whatever it is, the pepper- less equipped with two ring
box-typ pistol is not far be- triggers one for pulling the
hind it. 1 spring-operated firing pin into
A friend of mine who bought position and the other for releas
es in 1948 for $10 thought he ing it. The firing pin, by the
had found a bargain. way, was of the revolving kind.
It was an 1848 Leonard in The piece was marked "G.
good workable condition. He ex- Leonard Jr. Charlestown, Pat-
pected to turn it over for a fast ented 1849." Its only ornamen-
profit. When he discovered that tation consisted of silver grips
$1$ was all he could then ex- instead of the usual wooden
pct to get for it, he decided to ones.
keep the gun for its decoration Recently my friend decided
valua and as a reminder not to h no longer needed the weapon
be too hasty in buying. and offered it for sale.
The pepperbox-type is not a He named $75 as an asking
handsome one, and this one price, expecting to be beaten
seemed less handsome than down. Instead, the first prospect
most. It was a .31 calibre, four- paid without protest. The reason
shot job, the handle almost at is that values of pepperbox guns
right angles to the block which have so increased during the
was bored for the four charges, past ten years that the $75 price
The block, which measured a was somewhat on the low side,
little over three - and - a - half (Released by the
inches, was a removable one McCIur Newspaper Syndicate)
Medford Pharmacy
CPro u dip CPresen Is
SIX IN A ROW
MARY CHESS
A Wardrobe of Fragrance.
One each "of the Six most popular
Mary Chess Toilet Waters... superbly gift-packaged in
O a box, richly gold-embossed in an exquisite
design of the Renaissance.
I ' i
6 half mroct ! 6-
bottles
one ounce
bottles
-quarter ounce
bottles
$-P0
Medford Pharmacy, Inc.
We Are Opn Today 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
PHONE SP 2-6253 101 N. CENTRAL
! I
J&dAv!
CAMERA SHY Mrs. Mar
garet Lydia Burton, 51, tries
to shield her daughter,
Sheila Joy, 20, from pho
tographers as they are led
from U. S. Marshal's office
in Tulsa, Okla. Described by
the FBI as an elusive inter
national thief, Mrs. Burton
was arrested with her daugh
ter in connection with a
$100,000 embezzlement in
Georgia.
Some Ducks Fly East
Insiead of South
Lansing. Mich. Hfl The pop
ular belief that all migrating
ducks fly directly south to es
cape cold winter weather is not
necessarily so, says the Michigan
Conservation Department.
Recovery of birds banded on
the lower Detroit River since
1949 indicates several species of
diving ducks use a west-to-east
flight route for fall migrations
to the Chesapeake Bay area on
the Atlantic coast.
"Diving ducks" include the
canvasback, redhead, ringneck,
scaup, teal, gafiwell and widg
eon, v.
The investigation showed
black ducks have a split migra
tion pattern, with some of the
species going to the Atlantic
coast while others move south
along the Mississippi Valley.'
Band recoveries also demon
strate that the life expectancy
of ducks is comparatively short.
Of the banded birds killed, the
largest percentage was taken in
the first year after banding.
The annual Fiesta of Santa Fe,
N.M., is believed to be the oldest
community festival in America.
The Fiesta was begun in 1712
by the Spanish governor to com
memorate the re-conquest of
New Mexico from the Indians
"hi "J lumumapCTT
V ' M;. . fs C.
m' m - - 0J0Jgp1 igwsjiri
MYSTERY BLASTS DOOM TANKER Just 30 miles from
the safety of Gibraltar, the explosion-ravaged Liberian
tanker World Splendor begins to sink under massive
clouds of smoke. Five of the ship's 32 surviving crewmen
were hospitalized. None of the crew was able to explain
how the two explosions and flash fire that rocked the
25,000-ton vessel, which was en route to the Persian Gulf
from Southampton,- Eng., carrying nothing but ballast..
Use Mail Tribune Want Ads
The Low Cost Way to Sell
Items You No Longer Need
The raven, nearly twice as big i
as its common relative, the crow, ;
is similar in build and has glossy
black feathers. It eats almost j
anything animal or vegetable. It
carefully stays out of shotgun
range. Individuals have lived
more than 50 years. '
I DRAMATIC
SAVINGS
STARTSMONDAY
SEE PAGE 3, SECTION 1
The little village of Apache
Tejo (TAY-ho), in southeastern
New Mexico, was once the scene
of yearly "Olympic games." Apa
che Indians in the region met
there annually to play quoits,
and champions from the various
tribes defended their aurels in
the tejo (quoits) pits.
Oklahoma Is the only state la
the union to have memorials
honoring both the Confederacy
and the Union.
The 1957 World's Conservation
Exposition and Plowing Contests
will be held in Adams County,
Ohio, Sept. 17-20.
above all ...
(L
Come In Early for Your Selection
Exciting
HATS
by Mr. John Jr. and
Jan Leslie
Credit
Gladly
Given
Open Monday Til 9 p.m.
J
aaievs
J 17 South Central
JORGENSEN'S URGES YOU TO ATTEND THE
WEDNESDAY
AUGUST 28th
o
Food Sale 5:00 P.M.
Barbeque Dinner 5-9 P.M.
Auction Starts 7:00 P.M.
11
II I i - - -
U LJ
Here's your opportunity to have fun and help your own "Y" at the same time!
The annual YMCA auction of merchandise and services donated by Medford Merchr
ants will begin at 7:00 P.M. at the "Y". Be sure to be there Remember, Free
Prizes every hour!
'7f
o o o o o
ESTA
ICE
RIGHT NOW is Ice cream time-and Jorgensen's
FIESTA is the finest you can buy the top favorite
of everyone. Made of rich Rogue River Valley but
terfat enriched with that special nutrient, NUTRI
MIX FIESTA makes a hit with young and old . . .
it's a grand dessert, too so easy to serve so
welcomed by all the family! Keep YOUR refrigera
tor filled with the handy-sized colorful cartons c
FIESTA and be prepared for LOTS of demands! .
THE TOP TASTE TREAT!
O