The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-04 00:00:00

The Counterfeit Sovereigns,

(From the Mechanics' .111-agaztne)
We have seen two specimens of the base money. They
contain a considerable amount of gold, and hence are likely
to deceive the unwary tradesman. It is necessary, therefore,
to put the public on their guard against this system of fraud
The Times asserts that the best means of detecting the false
coins is by ringing them, because they leek the Tharp clink
of the true sovereign ; but this will be found a very treacher-
ous operation, as many of the genuine pieces are cracked or
brittle, and hence have no music in their souls. It must, we
are sure, have fallen to the lot of some of our readers to have
met wiih such imperfect samples of mintage. The cracks
in these cases arise from the imperfections existing in the
cast bars of geld from which the coins have been manufac-
tured. rupposing, for instance, that an air bubble lies con-
cealed beneath zhe smooth surface of a gold bar recently
removed from its mould, then the laminating process will
inevitably elongate and close up the orifice. Presently
blanks will be punched from the strap of metal, and these,
unless great care be exercised in rej3cting them, will in-
clude cracked or ho.low pieces cut from the defective
part of the strap, Afterwards they receive their im-
pressions, pass into circulation, and henceforth are, like
some monarchs, cracked sovereigns. Bri tle gold is some-
times met with. This arises from the presence of a small—
an infinitesima ly small—portion of iridium in its com-
position, Brittle gold is very awkward to deal with, and
the worst of it is that ringing only increases its brittleness•
Coins therefore which are moderately tough when they
leave the royal stamping presses, become brittle after
circulating for a year or two, and lose the little musical
powers they once possessed. These evils are no doubt
well understood at the Mint, and guarded against as far
as possible ; still they exist. " Ringing" sovereigns then
is really no test at all of their genuineness. There are
two modes of detecting spurious sovereigns. The one is
weighing them in delicate scales against a weight equal to
•25Goz: or against a genuine and newly-minted piece of the
same denomination. If it be found to vary from this more
than half a grain, either on the light or heavy side, but
more especially on the former, its quality may well be
doubted. The second method is that of a careful examina-
tion of the suspicious coin and its comparison with a well-
known good one. The workmanship exhibited by counter-
feit coins is always inferior to that shown by genuine ones,
and a quick eye will at once detect that inferiority. This is
notably so in the case of the base sovereigns spoken of in the
Times. Their milling, for example, is very imperfect, whilst
the lettering and engraving generally are slovenly and
coarse. The dies from which they have been struck were
manifestly the work of no artist, but of some novice ; and,
fortunately, the results of his handiwork are not likely long
to pass current. Weighing and inspection are the specifics
which we recommend for the discovery of the 20 carat or
17s sovereigns. The colour of the pieces will not decide as
to their quality, as the leading journal suggests it may,
because standard sovereigns of every hue, from that of
copper to bright yellow brass, are in plenteous circulation,
and gold is like the chameleon, and changes colour as its
temperature varies.

THE CASE OF MR HAMMOND.—Yestcrday Mr
Edward Hammond, of Laurel House, Peckham,
Eliza Allen, his servant, and Emily Wakeman, who was
alleged to live under his protection, who stood committed
to the Surrey Sessions to answer a charge of assaulting Mrs
Hammond, and also one of conspiring to lock up that lady
and keep her in confinement for two years, attended at
Lambeth Police-court for the purpeso of entering into the
necessary form cf recoguisances. It appeared that on Friday
last an application had been made in chambers to Mr
Justice Shee for a writ of certiorari to move the indictment,
if found, from the Surrey Sessions to the Central Criminal
Court. H's lordship made the order as required, and the
grand jury at the Surrey Sessions having found a true bill
against the parties, they were in attendance as above stated,
and in the presence of Mr Bonner, the solicitor for the pro-
secution, and Mr Neale for the defence, the necessary
forms wore complied with, so that the trials of the accused
will not come on before the 24th instant.

SHUCKING ACCIDENT AT THE CROYDON RAIL-
WAY STATION.—About half-past nine o'clock last night a
large number of persons were on the platform of the West
Croydon Railway station, waiting the arrival of ,the train
that would convey them to London. The train glided into
the station quietly enough, and there was a general rush to
the carriages before it came to a standstill. Oae poor
fellow, in the gtub of a countryman, was pushed off the
platform in the crush, and, shocking to relate, he was lite-
rally cut is two by the wheels of the carriages,