Los Angeles daily herald., 1884-11-09
Counterfeit Coin.

silver halfdOllar was yesterday shown
to Mr.. J. +. Taudy, the coin expert OF the
Sub Treasury, with the question: rs that
Soas sn. ~ sscusESa sss tEs, ash sab es hs m
much lighter, and had a peculiar ring un-
like that ot q genuine coin. Mr.. Tandy,
however, pronounced IL TO be the coinage oi
the United States Mint.
81 have one very much like IT," he said
and producing a little box filled with va
flOus counterfeit gold and silver coins, he
picked out lfdollar resembling that
shown him, when got hold Of this, he
CONTINUED, II WAS puzzled 10 account for It's
peculiatities We hnhly sent Il 70 the mlui
and asked them to look NJ t. The supefin.
tsudent wrote back that II was genuine
coin. but that i had been In the hands Of
COuBtcrfeiters."
They had placed piece Of lead over this
coin aud hammered 1t until perfect I'm
preston was made In the softer metal In
thiE process the hRlf'dOllaf was spread out
10 rs present size. aud was made CORES
pondingly thinner as you see. As to the
oddness Of It's ring, perhaps the hammerlng
changed the molecular construction Of the
metal, causing II 10 yibrate differently when
rung. The difference In the size aud thick
ness also would change It's sound.
The little box from which Mr. Tandy pro
duced HIS half fdOllar contains bad coins de
tected at the sub Treasury from time to time.
There are connterfeits Of various characters
and OF various pieces from silver quarter
10 q gold double eagle. The bad pieces
best calculated 10 deceive are those IN
whlOh q genuine coin has been altered
or tampered with, leaving the impression of
the die lnAct. Among them Il a Mexican
silver dollar, the face Of which was In some
way sliced on. and the body OF tho coin all
dug out until nothing but a shell remained.
1ntO this n little cake Of lead was nicely
ntted TO give II weight. and the thin
disk Of silver being replaced Ike the llt on n
blacking box, the opln was ready for clculs-
ttOn. The result Of all this work was only
tne value Of the silver extracted from the
coin. and. unless tho operator had fine ma
chinery and drove trade In the wholesale
line, II Is dlihoult to SEQ how he made labor
srs wages.
There arc In the collection some American
silver dollars, tho edges Of which indicate
that deep fnrr0w has been plowed out In "A
lathe, the gutter thus being then filled up
with white metal. There are ~ number OF
out and.0ut counterfeit quarters and
pearance and very light In weight.
Some gold dollar pieces are better made
aud would be taken by most persons without
hesitation. The gem" Of the collection,
however, N twenty dollar gold piece which
II Ii difficult to believe Is not all IL should
be This, Mr.. Tandy explains, has been
treated Ia tho samo manner ~ the
Mexictn dollar already described. Ths
impression on both sides Is genuine, but the
gold has been scooPed aud It's place nlled
with base metal. This coin came over Ia a
shipment Of double eagles from London. A
number like IL were caught at one time OF
another On cutting them up 1t was found
that the shell contained " worth OF gold
The operators, therefore, got SA out OF every
coin 80 troated. which they succeeded In
passing.