Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-02-26
COUNTERFEIT COIN.
Exaggerated View of the Amount in Cir
culation---Some Mysteries of the Craft
"A Danger Greater i'm Appearance
q fIon Reality t... ..-..rt.

than Reality. a
Washington Correspondence n Y Herald
Officials of the treasury DENY the
newspaper reports of extensive element
of bogus coin In our metallic circulating
medium. The amount has been re-
ported to be as much as $2,OOO,OOO but
the treasury officials believe that $4,000
is more than the reality. They do not
deny, however, that the resum ption Of
specie payments has given new life to
the almost obsolete industry in this
country nam ely, the counterfeiting of
coin. tits curious fact that the iml-
tation of a coin currency is more extern
slvely practiced by dishonest men than
that of a paper circulation, especially Of
late years, when the engraving of paper
money has become so elaborate as to be
a work of art which the counterfeiter
can hope to simulate only by the acqui-
sition Of the skill of a lifetime and a
considerable amount Of capital. 1t is
estimated, for instance, that the set of
plates from which Tom Ballard printed
his famous counterfeits necessitated an
expenditure of from $4,000 to $4,000 for
their engraving and preparation On
general principles this sum Of money
would usually satisfy the average man
of Billiards. rank In life by buying him
q house and home, and make him con-
tent to live out his life in honest and
simple labor But the counterfeiting of
coin requires no such elaborate or costly
outfit. A supply of plaster of Paris and
set of coins to be initiated are about
all that is needed. The character Of the
work turned out under such circum-
stances is of course quite various, and
depends upon the skill or address of the
artisan. In this simple way are made
most of the bogus nickels and subsidl-
airy silver coins which occasionally trou-
BILE the public. aa s8 60 saH
ease HOW BOGUS COIN Is MADE.
The genuine coin is fixed carefully in
the pulp or plaster, and an everything
surface is then pressed down upon it
and the whole lett to dry. When hard
the two parts OF the mold are separated,
the coin taken out, and hole or "gate,"
as the counterfeiter terms it, drilled to
the hollow space. The base metal is
poured through this gate" and enter
ing the mold takes the shape and form
of the genuine original. But the form
is always slightly deficient in size, for
the reason that the genuine coin is cut
from cold strips Of metal, whereas the
counterfeit, is made Of molten metal,
which shrinks slightly as it cools, leav-
ing 1t measurably smaller than the linz
its Of the mold. This defect can nearly
always be detected in counterfeit coins,
which are made by molds. Hence
there are several patent devices giving
the exact size of the genuine pieces,
which at once betray the. counterfeit
when the latter are subj ected to test
with them. There are counterfelts,
too, which, like government work, are
made with stamp and die, but in these,
as In all classes of counterfeits. there is
much imperfection III color, luster,
weight. sound or general appearance
which betrays them. sese -HT"9 81
AMOUNT IN CIRCULATION. G.' h#
The more elaborate methods are of
course more dangerous, but the injury
to the community at large is greatly
overestimated. Considering the vast
area of the country and the diffusion Of
money among the people, it seemed no
eXtravagant estimate that a million or
more of the coin currency was counter
felt. But it should be remembered
that money, paper or metal, is always
undergoing the winnowing process of
passage through the banks or the hands
of intelligent merchants and business
men generally. The false is soon de-
tected and relegated to harmless seclu-
sion. How many millions of bad money
might be shown were the desks and tills
of retail tredesmen to give up the bras
sy quarters and quicksilvered halves
which were taken by ignorant clerks or
in the hurry of trade Such coins are
stranded in the tradesmen's money
drawer, there to remain as mementoes
Of the past. And what curiosity shop
any bank might start with similar OBJ
jects. The free circulation of money is
like the free circulation Of the air. It
clears it OF its deleterious elements.
,rF7E = THE DANGEROUS TWENTIEs.
The dangerous counterfeits referred
to are such as those which were recent
ly detected at the United States treasury
in New York. These were 500 gold
pieces that had passed the ordeal of
the bank Of England, and were detect
ed only when they came within the,
range Of the optics of some of Uncle
Sans officials. They had been bored
from the edge and SD worth Of gold
had been extracted, the hole being filled
up with some composition with which
exact weight was made. This substitu-
ton was all the more ingenious and
startling for the reason that the bar to
such counterfeiting previously had been
the lack of something heavy enough
and cheap enough to take the place of
gold. It was almost an axiom of the
bankers that when gold coin was the
right size and exact weight it must be
genuine. for the reason that it would be
impossible to make a substitution for
an extracted portion of it with anything
but platinum Or some composition Of
platinum or other heavy metal, dearer,
commercially, than gold itself, weight
for weight. Some nice calculations had
I ~. IL