Connecticut western news., 1881-11-02
MUTILATED COINS.
Punched Silver Pieces Driven Out of Circulation by an Unofficial Order.


 The punched and mutilated silver coins which were circulated so briskly for more than they were worth short time ago have now become a rarity. The placards of standard values alleged to have been fixed by the Government, which were posted in all public places for speculative purposes, stopped the exchange of mutilated coins for business purposes, but when the Secretary of the Treasury denied the authenticity of the placarded list of prices, the trading public discovered the fact that the pla- card was an absurd one from it's own terms. In abiding by it the Govern ment might have been compelled to re- ceive mere rim of dollar silver piece, worth ten or fifteen cents, and pay six | ty.fve cents for it.
 The mutilated coin might have gone back into use again after this discovery, but it has not done so. The first effect has been that the spectators who in- vented the scheme to buy ninety or ninety-fve cents' worth of silver for six | ty-five cents have failed in their de- signs, and at the United States Assay Office in Wall street on Saturday an official said that some bankers were bit ten for nice round sum. They made hay while the sun shone, and bought the mutilated coin at from sixty-fve to seventy-five cents on the dollar. But now nobody wants it. There used to be carried on large business among cer- tain exchange brokers by buying mutt lated coin for ninety-six or ninety-seven cents on dollar and giving it out for one hundred cents. The only way for the brokers to rid themselves of their coin is to take it to the Assay Office and take their pay in fine bars of silver at Troy weight. Then the brokers sell the bars. The effect of this compul- sory procedure is that the brokers lose money, because they have to pay fol pocket wear of the silver coins. In selling mutilated coins for their weight the loss is two-thirds greater by the abrasion than by the mutilation. Two instances of assays of mutilated silver coin in the Assay Office last week illus trate this. The Twenty-third Stree Railroad Company sent to the Assay
 Office in one package $100 in mutilatec fve-cent pieces, taken from the money boxes in the bobtailed cars. Each coi1 had from one to four holes punched il it. Many were so pocket-worn tha they had no marks of the die on eithe side. Some had been used for pins O buttons, and others for bangles. Tn weight of these when issued was 85. 9 ounces. The loss by punching an' abrasion was 11.70 ounces, and tn
 weight in bars was 74.2O ounces. I'm $1OO worth of fve-cent pieces wer therefore worth intrinsically only abou S74.
 Another lot, of the nominal value o $500, was sent to the Assay Office by banker few days ago. The weight c
 the mutilated coin when issued wa 515.40 ounces. When weighed in tn Assay Office it was only 40 ounces making loss of 75.4O ounces. For tn
 $500 on the face of the coin only $44 was realized.
 f The mutilated com is flowing steadil and in 8 constantly larger stream int the Assay Office. Some bankers, how
 ever, are keeping their punched coin i the hope that the public will eventuall ' begin to take it again at par value. I some places the mutilated coin IS ac cepted, but these are few, and place where large profits are made. Whe 7 7 this coin is accepted the fact is usual . advertised at the doorway. At the ele vated road stations, at banks, in stores
 and nearly everywhere, however, tn offer of mutilated coin is looked g
 with astonishment. Whole coins, toe
 are looked at closely, in order to di'
 cover whether holes have not bee
 filled with base metal. Coin-weighin
 scales are in the height of fashion,
 M