The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-07-24

Counterfeiters and their tricks.

Counterfeiting the currency of the country
* more extensively carried on than is gener-
allv supposed. There is a large number of
men. women and children engaged In the
business. 1t has almost become a national
industry. Two causes combine to make it
So extensiye-one, the difficulty of capturing
counterfeiters, and the other, the small num-
her of men who are specially employed in
the detection of that class of criminals.
Every coin issued by the government has
been counterfeited and every issue of legal
tenders and almost every issue of national
bank notes has been similarly dealt with.
There are more counterfeit coins made than
counterfeit notes, and more counterfeits of
national banks are put on the market than
~ legal tenders. The readiness with which
Gains can be counterfeited and the small
capital required to enter into the business is
the cause of the magnitude of such opera
tions. Five or six dollars is enough to set a
man UP in the business of making spurious
coins. Com counterfeiters direct their at
tention chiefly to the quarter and half dollar
silver pieces, though they by no means con-
fine themselves thereto. The outfit for the
work consists of a few genuine coins, some
antimony, lead, type metal; pulverIZed glass.
= small galvanic battery, a crude milling ma
chine and a moderate supply of plaster Of
Paris. With the plaster of Paris they make
the mouldS-very perfect ones-of the coin.
Sometimes In one mould there will be cavi-
ties exactly the size Of all the silver coins,
with the impression of one side on One-halt
IF the mould and the other bearing the face
siIai3e Of the reverse. The base metal, an
timony. lead, type metal and pulverized
glass-th0ugh TIN Is sometimes used-is
melted and poured into the mould. When
sufficiently cooled the metal IS taken out.
The coin has a dingy, rough and a not at all
d~eceiving look. 1T is Smoothed with a knife
as far as possible, the rough edges being cut
off. 1t is next run edgewise through a small
two small cogged-wheels. This makes the
nptcies around the edge. Al that is now
lett TO give the coin a pretty decent appear
ance as genuine Is a coating OF silver. IhlS
the countertelter secures from genuine CONS.
The genuine coin subjected to the action OF
the battery, soon iooses some Of Its silver.
Before it Is sufficiently dissolved to totally
deface it, the coin Is taken out. Enough
genuine silver Is in this way procured from
a single coin to plate a dozen counterieits,
and the original looks after the operation, as
if it was but little worn, and can readily be
passed. This process is called sweating
The work is very simple. \ good hand at
the business can make his moulds OF plaster
tl L dliS dlNl IC-tI luIilhS oub SDuiIouS
pieces all in two or three hours. In coun-
terieit gold coins the same method Is pur-
sted, q genuine gold coin substituted for the
silver one In the sweating. being the only
change. 1t is much more difficult, however,
to get a decent looking gold counterfeit than
it is one of silver; therefore there is not
much doing in that line OF business. The
use of pulverized glass in the composition of
counterfeit coins IS for the purpose of giving
them a ring something like that possessed
by the genuine metal. They can always lie
detected, however, by their weight, never
being As heavy Is the genuine.