The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-01-25
Counterfeit Coins.

HedTu Tecentlys says tne NoH AOth
Times, of the inconvenient and uncom-
Portable abundance of counterfeit silver
coins in circulation. Dining-saloon
keepers, car conductors, the corner
grocery man, and even the usually care
less bar-keeper, have all become sus
picious, and will not even accept with
out scrutiny the fairest and most gen.
uine looking piece Of silver. To ring
coin does not appear to be a sufficient
test to these careful worthless, for they
have found out that deceit has been so
ingenious that the true ring has been
obtained in some of the basest counter
feits. All silver coiHs are eyed "with
care" and the conductor refuses to
"punch in the presence of the passen-
gers until he is convinced beyond o
doubt that the quarter or half dollar he
presents is really good thing to make
change for. Inquiry was made yester-
dayat the Sub-Treasury in this city as to
the quality and quantity of counterfeits
known to be in circulation. Mr.. j. F.
Tandy, chief coin detector, who has
held his position for many years, and
is now one of the most competent
Judges of coin in the country, was re-
ferred to for information. Mr.. Tandy
says that there are great
many spurious coins in ac-
tual circulation, the ingenuity OF
counterfeiters who formerly studied to
produce limitations of paper currency
having evidently been turned to the
manufacture of metal tokens. A great
many good coins have been mistaken
for bad ones, owing to the imperfect
work done at some of the minis in the
haste to supply the demand made when
the paper currency was withdrawn.
Many coins are found with the edges
between the milled rim and the outer
ring on the face beveled off as by ma
chinery. This appearance is doubtless
caused in many instances by careful
pairing of the coin for the small amount
of silver obtained, but the quality of the
silver is not of sufficient fneness to
make such practice a very lucrative
one. The counterfeiters have devoted
themselves almost exclusively to the
production of limitations of half-dollars
and quarter-dollars. No false dimes
that were at all likely to deceive have
yet been seen. Several specimens of
the half-dollars found at the Sub-Treas-
ury were shown. In appearance they
were very good, the impression being
considered excellent by Mr.. Tandy. In
weight they were light, when compared
with genuine coins. Submitted
to the test of the scale, the
genuine coin weighed 1929 grains ;
the counterfeit, 142 grains. The test
of the crucible showed the spurious
coin to be composed of anthony, lead
and zinc, which really makes fine i'm
itation of well-made silver coin.
Most Of the counterfeit coins are
dated back, the CLEAN of new silver
being very difficult to initiate. Even
with experts, the difficulty of detecting
these light coins among piles of silver
of thousands of dollars is acknowledge
ed to be very great. The counterfeitS
are evidently not all made by the same
persons, as they are by no means OF
uniform excellence of workmanship. A
number of debased gold coins were
shown that had recently been detected
A 800 piece, with an exterior fair to
look upon, and apparently as "good
as gold," was pronounced villainoui
fraud, worth but Sc. 1t had been care
fully split, followed out and filled witt
!. platinum. When submitted to the
scale test it weighed all that the law
demanded. Its spuriousness had beer
detected by the eye of an experienced
handler of coin, and its "true inward
ness" exposed by slight chipping O.
the edges where the parts had beer
pressed together. A quarter eagle tha
had come from the Bank of England
had been served in the same way, anc
when broken is was found to be packed
with charges of platinum deity
fitted to the cavity made
by the abstraction of the
gold, its edges carefully remilled, anC
it had undoubtedly changed hands re
repeatedly, before its wickedness hac
been detected. A California counterfeit
or has recently invented new way fol
mining gold that may have proved more
profitable than hunting for nuggets il
the mountain streams, though it MAJ
not prove as comfortable a means o
securing livelihood. From San Fran
cisco was shown $50 piece. bent anc
broken, from which projected the end
of several broken wires. A hole haC
been made in the milled edge OF tn
coin, and from this central opening
branehed several galleries, reaching al
most across the inside of the coin. Th
gold had been distracted, and its plac
filled up with copper wire. The weigh
: of the coin was reduced, and by the US
| of scales this defect could have been de
l tected at once. But, apparently, tn
coin was good, and only the ready ey
of an expert could catch the marks G
tampering on the edge, or understan
: the meaning of the raised lines on tn
Y surface, where the drill had approach
a ed too near the edge and the wire ma
G crowded the gold when it was drive
s into the aperture.
e The Philosophy of Breathing
. Good air is one of the first essential
. in physical and vocal exertion. No on
can keep the body and mind vigorou
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