The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1873-09-11
Counterfeit Coin.

UuuutulIull Uvius
Mr.. Ashley, vfthe Sub-Treas-
ury, recently gave reporter OF
the New York Times the follow
ing interesting information respect
ing "tiIled" coins:
Referring to the practice Of
counterfeiting. Mr.. Ashley remark.
ed that there were "fllcd"coins Of
The denomination of $50, and then
added: 81 suppose you don't know
what filled coin isl" On receiv-
ing an affirmative resp>n'. to his
query, Mr.. Ashley took from a
small drawer douLle-eagle, that
10 all appearance, was perfectly
genuine. The minutes examination
Of the surface and of the milled
edge failed to disclose any marks
of fraudulent manipulation; the
weight was corr Get to the decimal
of a grain, and when struck on
the counter the coin gave
loud clear ring, true as any
which were taken from q neigh
boring pile of the genuine article,
Nothing seemed wanting in this
skillful counterfeit; but it was a
counterfeit, nevertheless.
"rhis is n filled coin," contin-
ned Mr.. Ashley, as he balanced
it on the tips of his fingers. The
weight is correct, itappears good,
the acid test would fail on it, and
the sound is true. 1t is one Of the
moet dangerous counterfeits ever
made. Here is another, cut through
the center to show the filling. You
see that the inside of tho coin is
filled with n composition of platina!
To fill in this, the milled edge has
been careful y removed, the coin
sliced in two, anl the inside OF it
pared away, leaving the two faces
intact. An amount of the compos.
ltion of the same weight has been
substituted for the more valuable
metal rem wed, and tho several
parts of the com have been skill
fully joined together again, and
none but an expert can detect
the signs of the work. From a
double eagle the amount Of gold
thu. removed amounts to $14; SD
you see a man could make a living
it he only made one Of these filled
coins day."
In response to an inquiry low
these fraudulent coins were detect.
ed, Mr.. Ashley stated that there
was a clerk in the building who
could pick every one ont OF a heap
ofgcnuine coin as unerr'ngly cas-
a mc thcr would pick her children
out of schoolful OF other'. "You
shall seq" he continued, and ta-
king the filled piece, he placed
it edgcwise among some forty or
moro pure ones, Then laying the
pile down, ho called from his place,
some distance off,one Of the clerks,
and said: "Mr Tandy, will you
please sci arate the good from the
bad in these c,insr' The gentle.
man Thus addressed scrutinized
the upturned edges of the coins,
and threw out the coun erfeit
in an instant. Mr.. Ashley tIen
spread them out on tho counter,
and throughly mixed them up.
Again the counterfeit vas detect
ed at a glance. Twice the export.
ment was made, and with tho
same rosult. Sumo ono diverted
Mr.. Tandy's attention for all in
stant, anI Mr.. Ashley quietly
removed the counterfeit coin, and
once more asked the expert to
search tho mass. lie dill so, but
was not deceived, though fr q
moment puzzled lie pronounced
all the coins to he genuine, and
Mr.. Ashley tiiumphantly threw
down the counterfeit. Mr.. Tandy
could not explain how he detec-
ted the false pieces, further than
that "they did not look right"
and Mr.. Ashley frankly confessed
he could not himself tell how il
was done; neither could he do It.
Some of the filled pieces wero
shown, which seemed absolutely
perfect, particularly one five.dollar
piece, which was pronounced a
"marvel Of workmanship" To
seccesstully fill a coin 60 small
aud thin ns this ia naturally n