The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-05

sent to Europe in gold coin and bars. Contrary
to the belief entertained by most people, no bull
lion is brought to or stored in the Sub-treasury;
that is all done at the Assay Building The coin
is brought from the mirsts generally by express
companies, but sometimes it is sent as regis
tered mail matter. Never more than 800 900 is
sent at one time. 1t is guarded en-. route by the
company, which ceases to be responsible for it
only when it is delivered into the hands of
the government officials at the Pine-street en-
trance to the building. 1t is then taken to
the counting room and weighed by the bag
full after being passed through the hands of
an expert, who can instantly tell if the coins
have been tempered with. 1t was formerly re-
quired by law that every piece should be
weighed separately, and that old coins which; by
natural abrasion or sweating had lost one-haif of
one per cent, should be rejected. For this
purpose scales were provided of such delicate
mechanism that an eyelash would turn the bal
ance.
"How do we detect bad pieces? Well. I can't
tell you. It's instinct, l guess" said an old ex-
pert in answer to the reporters question.
Cant you generally tell by the weight and
sizeE'
''Oh. pshaw, no. A composition of lead and
platinum is made that weighs and rings exactly
like gold. Look here; there is a piece that al
most any man in New York would as soon have
as any that was ever coined" He tossed in front
of the reporter "a twenty-dollar piece that looked,
weighed and rang like gold.
= well. what's the matter with It'll"
'It's ~only-worth $40. 1t has been cut in two,
followed out, filled with composition and stuck
together again. I rather think my eyes are the
best aids in detecting, though l can pick out a
bad coin when handling a pile blindfolded."
Are many Spurious coins brought hereP
ooh. quantities. Most of them are so bung-
lingly done that it is easy to spot them. Once
when an investigating committee was here l was
asked to pick a very cleverly 'doctored' piece
from a bagfull. They were all coined. at the
same time and exactly alike. I picked it out for
them all right, and then the committee pre-
tended to be.so Interested that they wanted to
see it done again. The second time they quietly
changed the bad piece for a good one and were
sure of catching me They got left though,
as the boys say. Counterfeits can always be de-
tected by the milling. No one has vet succeeded
in reaching the perfection with which the gov
eminent employees do it."
What is done with the counterfeits that are
presentedN
1--WE are not allowed to destroy them, but we
put on a marks so that it is impossible to pass them
afterward. This big pair of shears is used to cut
spurious dimes in two"
How about mutilated coins?"
''They are simply returned. The government
won't buy them, and we have no more right to
mark them than any one else"
(which are counterfeited most, bills or coinsF
BILLS, by a large majority: national hank
notes. generally. They are branded and returned.
The latest dodge is a little scheme we dropped
on a short time ago. A sharper will takeS-say
five good bills, cut them up into small pieces and
shorten them so that he can present the frag-
.ments as those of six different bills. The law
requires that three-hfths of a bill be presented
to get a good ore in return. All sorts of touch
ing and amusing incidents occur every day in
this branch. This morning poor woman came to
the window, with big tears in her eyes and two
burned one-dollar bills in her hand. She said
the baby had thrown them in the fire. The
corners of her mouth went up like a fash when
she was given new money IN return. There is
another little trick | must tell %you-that is, to
burn a counterfeit note to a crisp and bring it
here for redemption; but, strange as it may
saem, they can be detected even when reduced
to ashes"