352 Gilding. 



■fc»' 



The mercury causes the gold to adhere to the other metals, 

 when, by the application of heat, it is evaporated, and leaves 

 the gold on the surface of the object. The application of gold 

 in this way may be distinguished by the two principal branches 

 of the manufactures in which it is used. The trade in gilt 

 buttons is chiefly carried on in Birmingham, but extensive- 

 ly also in London. In the first town, there are upwards of 

 fifty large, and many small establishments ; in the latter a much 

 smaller number, but these are calculated to expend about three 

 times the same quantity of gold on the same number of but- 

 tons. From the influence of fashion within the three or four last 

 years, the number of gilt-buttons fabricated has SQigtewhat de- 

 chned, though the whole produced is still very large. Many of 

 those for the use of the officers of the navy and army, and other 

 gentlemen, are made at Birmingham, as are those destined for 

 foreign markets, whilsjt the trade in London supplies a portion 

 of them to the higher classes, and has an almost exclusive mo- 

 nopoly of such livery buttons as have arms or crests stamped 

 on them. 



Communications received from ten of the largest manufac- 

 turers in Birmingham led to the conclusion, that their weekly 

 consumption of fine gold had, till within the last three years, 

 amounted to 200 ounces weekly, and that the several smaller 

 houses, from their greater number, might use about 300 ounces. 

 Within the last three years, the demand has declined, and the 

 consumption of gold is estimated not to exceed 360 ounces. 

 The quantity used in London is not supposed to amount to 

 more than one-sixth of that which Birmingham consumes, and 

 on these grounds we are led to the conclusion, that the whole 

 trade in gilt buttons has, during the last twenty years, required 

 a supply of gold of about 650 ounces weekly, or about 21,800 

 ounces yearly. 



A larger portion of gold is used by the manufacturers of gilt 

 toys, a branch of trade which is followed in more than 100 es- 

 tabhshments in Birmingham, and several in London. The 

 vast quantity of wares of this description, of which almost 

 every part of the world receives a supply from England, would 

 require an enumeration of all the personal and domestic ornar 

 ments and utensils that are known, whose value singly may b^ 



