The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-03-01
S0PtilSrNATIONS.


are probably rife AS ever. 1t is the old
story Ingenuity and ability becoming mis-
chievous through being applied TO dishonest
purposes. Sand IN sugar: spent tea leaves.
redried and r.curIed TO look like new, black
tea colnred like green: mixtures of roasted
corn aud beans with coffee: and Of queer
odds and ends with cocoa: tobacco, gin,
mustard, pepper, milk. port wine, sophls.
ticatsu with substances which do not pro
perly belong to them-al tell us that
knayery is far too active in shops and
manufactures.
The poor purchasers in humble neighboT
hoods are not the only victims; nor articles
OF necessity the only kinds To winch fraud.
ulent ingenuity 10 applied, The buyers of
costly works III fine art have need of eau
ton To an cxten; that many of them are far
from suspcctiug. Experienced picture
buyers have become aware that pictures
apparently old, and bearing the names OF
the great masters, in many instances
really modern. Old panels and canvases
are repaInted with copies from Tine pictures:
tie coloIs are purpnsely made dark and
smoky. as if toned down 10y age; while the
cracked surface of old vaInsh i, initiated by
placing the newly painted picture for
tins i'll 4 heated oven. Old china and
earlhenware are selling at prices perfectly
monstrous, ami this has sci unscrupulous
men to produce modern antiques, new pro
duets Of the potter's mould. colored and
decorated in exact imitation of much priz-d
productions Of past centuries
Coins are perhaps the productions on
which the greatest variety of sophIslcal arts
has been exercised: so fertile has roguery
been III devIsIng ways FOR inducing these
pieces of metal To appear To be what they
ATE not, but smashers, sweaters.
aud " clippers. it is not known. have been
IN various countries from very early ages
The hama clippers explains itself: while
the sweaters reduce the substance of the
coin. eithsr by shaking many of them to
gether in a leather bag, or by some other
means and appropriating tbs surface
sweat obtaued thereby. Smashing is
not the making, but the cIicuiating, OF base
coin; the wo.d probably is thieves slang
for the name OF q" smash feeder is given
by them to a nickel silver OF initiative silver
spoon.
{ Numisnatis;s and coin collectors have
good reason To know that nefarious skill
lis AT work in their depart ment Y very
old aud scarce coin, say Of silver. is worth
III the ant iq.arIan market many times its
weight III that metal; aud hence Is i strong
temptation for the ciever!y dishonest To
produce coins which can he sold for as
many pounds they cost shIiiiugs Curl.
"usiy enough, this laxity was known To
ancieuts As well as to ourselves; FOR Roman
COINS have occasionally been dug up. some
evidently plated. some evidently washed
over a mere surface Of precious metal At
the present iIms, the Greek Islands shelter
men who make false dies OF old coins, as !.
preliminary To the manufacture of new
specimens So doctoIed up is to pass fur
those old.
Much could br said As to the sophistica-
ton OF imitation OF colus which, ON account
OF their great rarity, command a market
price much beyond their orig inal value: bu;
the deOasemeut of fraudulent imitation 81
current coin has also for ages afforded a
field FOR misappiled ingenuity.
Without speaking of the familiar facts
IN the coin history of this country, we may
mention that before the accession of the
present sovereign to the throne the Eng
lIsh silver COINS were IN a multitude OF
cases worn SO completely smooth and plain,
that foigcrs were tempted 10 PUT into CIR
cuiaiIon smooth dies of silver or allowed
SILVER, the intrinsic value of which WAS
much below the current value Of the teal
COINS. When the oyerwuru silver COINS
were called IN, ana sent to the Mint To be
'sme;ed, the smooth blanks were of two
kinds. genuine and fraudulent. The yrac
tIcal officers at the Mint adopted singular
way of asceEtalnIng whether any raised de
wee had ever been on these blanks: they
placed them on red hot iron plates: when
heated To 4 certain temperature the fraud
uleut pieces remained plain Us before
but the worn down genuine cUius presented
tht cHaGc very idIHllN re lntI DQuctG, pi a
sIesnish hue; this revival disappeared as
the COINS cooled down. but lasted long
enough tot the immediate purpose i'll view
Collectors themselves adopt i similar plan
when testing old silver COINS of which the
device is so WON down AS 10 render the
the reign aud date almost iiIegibIe: they
place them upon red hot poker, ar.G
watch I'LL the Inscription comes mporaIily
into view
Macaulay gives u graphic account Of the
woiui state OF the coinage in the closing
years of the seventeenth century. Down
to the time al Charles H., the blanks
for coins Were cut out from sheets by means
of sh.ars, aud then hammered into circular
shape; this circulatIIy Was by no means
! perfect, while the edge was often irregular,
and without any leg-ud or milling Ouc
consequence OF this was that the dishonest
clipped and pared aud flied the edges of the
coins, aud appropriated the fragments of
gold and silver thus obtained. The gov
crnment, on urgent and repeated represeu.
iations from bankers, merchants. employ
s5s OF labor. and shopkeepers, caused a
machine to be constructed for milling az
stamping the edge. But, unwiseIy, the
old coins and the new were allowed To be
/ IN circulation IL tie same time, producing
an effect which had not been duly furcsren.
" Fresh wagon loads OF choice money came
forth from the Mint: aud still they vanish
ed rs fast IS they appeared. Great masses
were melted down, created masses ex-
+ ported: great masses no ,rded but scarcely
one new piece WAS 10 be found in the TIL of
a shop, OF in the cattle fair" The gibbet
At ryburn was at work nearly every week.
executing wretched creatures, women as
well as men, who had been convicted ni
clipping the coinage; but the profits of The
nefarious trade were 50 large that even the
terror Of the gallows did not act as a cure