The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-12-13
Counterfeit Coin.

The skill shown by the counterfeiters
of our American coin is truly amazing.
Indeed, we scarcely see how the great
public can be protected from their al
most superhuman ingenuity. On this
subject Mr.. Ashley, of the sub-treasury
recently gave reporter of the New
York Times some valuable information:
Referring to the practice of counter
! feiting, Mr.. Ashley remarkeGthat there
were ''filled" coins of the denomination
of twenty dollars, and then added: 81
don't suppose you know what a filed
coin is?" On receiving an affirmative
response to his query, Mr.. Ashley took
from a small drawer double eagle,
which, to all appearance was perfectly
genuine. The minutest examination of
the surface and of the milled edge failed
to disclose any marks of fraudulent man
lpulation; the weight was correct to the
decimal of grain, and when struck on
the counter gave a loud clear ring, true
as any which were taken from a neigh
boring pile of the genuine article. Moth
ing seemed wanting in this skillful
counterfeit; but it was a counterfeit,
nevertheless.
"This is filed coin," continued Mr..
Ashley, as he balanced it on the tips of
his fingers. 1.-The weight is correct, it
appears good, the acid test would fail on
it, and the sound is true. It is one of
the most dangerous counterfeits ever
made. Here is another, cut through
the center, to show the filling. You see
the inside of the coin is filed with a
composition of platina. To fill in this,
the milled edge is carefully removed,
hn oil i,,t bo 40 e
OF 1t pared away, leaving the two faces
intact. An amount of the composition
of the same weight has been substituted
for the more valuable metal removed
and the several parts of the coin skillful-
ly joined together again; and none but
an expert can detect the signs of the
work. From double eagle the amount
of gold thus removed amounts to four
teen dollars, so you see man could
make living if he only made one of
these filled coins day"
In response to an inquiry as to how
the fraudulent coins were detected. Mr..
Ashley stated that there was clerk in
the building who could pick every one
out of heap of genuine coin as uner.
ringly ''as mother would pick her
children out of a schoolful of others.
You shall see," he continued, and, tax
ing the filed piece, he placed it edge
wise among some forty or more pure
ones. Then laying the pile down, he
called from his place, some distance off,
one of the clerks, and said: 'Mr. Tandy
will you please separate the bad from
the good in these coins?" The gentle
man thus addressed scrutinized the up
turned edges of the coins and threw out
the counterfeit in an instant. Mr.. Ash
ley then spread them out on the counter
and thoroughly mixed them up. Again
the counterfeit was detected at glance.
Twice the experiment was made, and
with the same result. Some one divert
ed Mr.. Iandy attention for an instant,
and Mr.. Ashley quietly removed the
counterfeit coin, and once more asked
the expert to search the mass. He did
so, but was not deceived, though for a
moment puzzled. He pronounced all
the coins to be genuine, and Mr.. Ashley
triumphantly threw down the counter
felt. Mr.. Tandy could not explain how
he detected the false pieces, farther than
they did not look right" and Mr.. Ash
ley frankly confessed that he could not
himself tell how it was done; neither
could he do it. Some of the filled piec-
es were shown, which seemed absolute
ly perfect, particularly one five dollar
piece, which was pronounced marvel
of workmanship" To successfully fill
coin so small and thin as this, is natural
ly a more difficult and delicate operation
than filling the thick and heavy double
eagles; but the perverse ingenuity of
the counterfeiters is equal tc it, and
only hn Of f,,1
the gentleman who admiringly showed
the coin to the reporter is comp tent to
detect the fraud. OF course, an assist
ant possessing such exceptional skill is
too valuable to be parted with. 1t need
scarcely be said that political changes
do not affect such as he. Mr.. Ashley
stated, however, that he had a standing
offer of a situation in one of the princi
pal banks at much higher salary than
the government paid-which was not
muniticent-and that he remained in the
service only because the sub-treasurer
and he Mr.. Ashley had personally
agreed that his salary should be the
same as that offered by the bank 1t
may be mentioned that English sover-
eigns have been subjected to the "fill-
ing" process, which the well known au-
tomato weighing machine of the bank is
totally useless to detect. The attention
of the British authorities has doubtless
been called to this new fraud by this
time, and when the English detectives
were over here looking after the bank
forgers, they were shown several sover-
eigns which had come to the sub-treas-
ury "filled." 1t was new revelation to
the officers of the law, and doubtless
proved to be SO to their employers.