New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-08-21
spurious Shekels.
Two Millions of False coin In Circula.
sto.a-VartOus Modes or Forx1ng.

4 From the Scientific American.
1t would hardly be supposed that so
large an amount as $4,000. 600 in coun-
( terfeit silver and gold coin is now afoat
I'm this country; but sucn, according to
! the estimate Of treasury experts, is the
fact, and, moreover, the total is constant
4 ly increasing. The spurious money pass
es through thousands Of innocent hands,
until it is finally caught in the meshes of
I. the nets laid by the Secret Service, or is
recognized BY a jynx-eyed expert in
some large bank. Then the unfortunate
holder bf comes the victim of the coun
terfei.ers skillful rascality.
In order to initiate coin successfully
that is, SO that it will deceive, not the
general public, because probably most
persons never take q second look at the
coin they receive. provided its appear
ance seems right, but the clerk or cash.
Ter moderately we'll accustomed to hand
ling money-the counterfeiter must re-
gard execution, size and weight. The
last is most important in gold coin, be-
cause the least current weight of the lat
ter is established, whereas in silver q
coin OF Ii ht weight, SO long as the re-
duction is not manifestly too great. will
pass. The standard weights of gold coin
are as follows.
pc-standar5 sig ss.; least current weight 5l4 ~
80 pc-standard 2Ss grs least current weight 25s q
STANDARD, "a grs: least current weight IS Is
Any decrease IN weight below the latter
figures subjects the holder to loss equiv
alent to the difference This decrease
may occur by wear, or as is very often the
| "a
which, though not properly counterfeit
ing, nevertheless belongs Of that species
of crime.
These operations are perhaps the most
dangerous to the community, because as
arule the coin preserves its appearance,
is apparently genuine under the acid test
and in fact, is genuine except in weight.
1t it impossible, for example, to tell
whether coin has been ''sweated" or
not without weighing it, and by sweating
is meant the use OF the coin as the anode
in the electro plating bath, the gold be-
| ing distracted from it and deposited on
another surface. Of course uniform
quantity is removed from the entire sur
face, and the imprint retains it's original
sharpness. AS much as two dollars worth
OF gold is sometimes taken from the
double eagle in this way. A less scienti-
tic plan is one too commonly adopted by
. constituencies jewellers, who, when they
want a little gold, instead of buying the
precious metal, purchase a twenty dollar
piece, file off with dead smooth file a
sufficient quantity, reburnish the place,
aud pass off the coin at full value. The
m ost extensive fraud perpetrated on gold
coinage is "spl1tting.o
The operator uses fine saw to split
the coin neatly into. fhen he gouges the
gold out of the center until only a thin
outside shell is left, and substitutes sill
yer and platinum alloy for the metal thus
distracted. The two parts are then join
ed with gold solder, and the edge is re-
milled. In this way gold to the value of
$3.50 has been taken from single
piece. The operation, however, generally
destroys the ring OF tone of the coin, leav-
ing it, besides, either too light or too
thick Another swindle is to bore into
the edges. The holes whence the gold is
taken are refilled with silver, covered
with gold solder, and the edges are neat
ly finished; but the light weight reveals
the theft. From SIS to $3.50 worth OF
gold has thus been taken from one coin.
and the pieces Of course have every APP
pearance of being g nuine. Real count
erfeits-that is, coin wholly spurious be-
cause of base metal are almost invariably
below weight. An exception to this, how
ever, exists in the SIS piece which is of
tire exact standard weight of 1919 grains.
1t is composed OF alloy Of gold and silver,
and worth from $2.7O to $3.4O. Its APP
pearance and tone are excellent. but
1t is thicker than the genuine coin, and
hence may be detected by the gauge
Still it is one of the most dangerous
counterfeits in existence.
A silver piece passes current so long as
the imprint is not badly defaced or
weight greatly reduced A hole through
the coin, however, condemns it. The low
value of silver prevents any such proceed
ings as in the case of gold, as the amount
which could safely be distracted will not
pay for the trouble Of doing it. Conse-
quently, all silver conterfeits are true
limitations, and there is hardly date Of
dollar, half-dollar or quarter which has
not been copied with remarkable ac-
curacy. The connterfeiter either makes a
mould in plaster from the real coin, and
casts from it, or he stamps his limitation
in dies. As this last process is the same
as in use in the minis, the counterfeits
thus produced are more difficult to detect.
because, besides being more accurately
finished, the compression which the alloy
receives brings it nearer to standard
weight. A large number of counterfeit
silver coins are made chiefly of type