3-065-785 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Ashantee War: jeweller's shop, Cape Coast Castle, 1874. 'In his rambles about the town our Artist inspected the workshop of a native jeweller, or goldsmith, of which he made a sketch...The artificer was seated at a table with an old lamp, the flame of which he stimulated and directed through a blowpipe held in his left hand, while he used the hammer, in his right hand, or another tool, upon the small piece of gold set before him. Gold wire, drawn, twisted, and cut into fanciful filigree shapes, was laid upon the metal plate, with a tiny piece of pure gold beneath, well softened by the heat, and was soldered on, to form an ornamental pattern. The melting of gold was effected by putting some gold-dust into a crucible, the size of an egg-cup, which was placed in an old saucepan with some charcoal. Through a hole in the side of the saucepan the bellows were applied, for an hour, by the boy slave in attendance. Saltpetre was put into the crucible from time to time, and the dirt or refuse of the charcoal was carefully removed. Some specimens of the Cape Coast jewellery, with designs such as those in the form of the green beetle, are really beautiful and artistic, considering the rude implements and processes of their manufacture'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.