Jewellers. 357 



give that credit to the result that shall be presented to him 

 which in his judgment it may merit. 



As the only fields of minute investigation at hand on the sub- 

 ject of the trade of the jewellers were London and Birmingham, 

 what refers to that trade in the following pages is chiefly con- 

 fined to those places, though they may, perhaps with justice, be 

 extended to Liverpool, Derby, and the other towns where jewel- 

 lery is fabricated. In London, the most costly articles of jewel- 

 lery are devised and completely finished by the same persons ; 

 and, exclusively of the precious stones, which, in some of the or- 

 namental products, are the chief costs, the greatest expenditure on 

 them is the gold. That metal is rarely used in a pure state, 

 though, in some of the more delicate parts, such as the filigree 

 work, it is mixed with but a very small portion of alloy. This 

 fine gold is commonly supplied to the jewellers by the refiners, 

 and that worked up by them consists of the 58,000 ounces, 

 which, according to the estimate before framed, remains, after 

 the part appropriated to various other purposes has been de- 

 ducted. It forms, however, but the minor portion of that used 

 by jewellers. The gold used by the first-rate London jewellers 

 is commonly of sixteen carats fine, or with two-thirds of its 

 weight pure gold. As that gold which can be purchased con- 

 sists, for the greater part, of light guineas, light sovereigns, 

 doubloons, Portugal pieces, and other foreign coin, it may be 

 considered as of twenty-two carats fine, or as two parts in twenty- 

 four, or one-twelfth less fine than the refiner's gold. The price 

 of this standard gold isL.3rl7:10J per ounce, and such gold 

 is always a ready money article. The price of the pure gold of 

 the refiners is L, 4 : 7 : 6 the ounce, and is sold on credit. The 

 difference of price is thus 9s. l|d. the ounce, whilst the differ- 

 ence in the real quantity of pure gold is one-twelfth part of 

 L. 4 : 7 : 6, or 7s. 3|d. The cost of refining, and the loss of 

 weight by that operation, may be taken at sixpence the ounce. 

 The difference in price, then, between the standard gold and the 

 pure gold will appear to be Is. lOd. more on the latter than the 

 difference in real value. 



It must then be the interest of those jewellers whose capitals 

 are sufficiently large to enable them to buy their gold with ready 

 money, to purchase standard rather than fine gold, with the ex- 



