The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-11-30
COUNTERFEIT COIN.
How Dies Are Procured-SOme Novel
ties in the Way Of Coins.

A silver hah-dollar was yesterday
shown to ]. F. Tandy, the coin expert
of the Sub-Treasury, with the question:
ais it a counterfeit" 1t was larger
than the half-dollar coins in circulation,
thinner, felt M UGH lighter, and had a
peculiar ring unlike that of a genuine
coin. Mr.. Tandy, however, pronounced
it to be the coinage of the Uuited States
Mint.
81 have one very much like it." he
said, and producing a little box filed
with various counterfeit gold and silver
coins, he picked out hali-dOllar re-
sembling that shown him. when l
got hold of this" he continued II
was puzzled to account for its pecu-
harities. We finally sent il to the Mint
and asked them to look at it. The SUI
perintendent wrote back that it was
genuine coin, but that it had been in the
hands of cOunterfeiters.
They had placed a piece of lead over
this coin and hammered it until per-
feet impression was made IN the softer
metal. In this process the half-dollar
was spread out to its present size, and
was made correspondingly thinner as
you see. As to the Oddness of its ring,
perhaps the hammering changed the
molecular construction of the medal,
causing it to vibrate differently when
rung. The difference in the size and
thickness also would change its sound"
The little box from which Mr.. Tandy
produced his half-dollar contains bad
coins detected at the Sub-Treasury from
time to time. There are counterfeits of
various characters and of various
oil n IL
double eagle. The bad peices best
calculated to deceive are those in which
a genuine coin has been altered or
tempered with, leaving the impression
of the die intact. Among them is a
Mexican silver dollar, the face of which
was in some way sliced off, and the
body of the coin all dug out until
nothing but a shell remained. Into
this little cake of lead was nicely fitted
to give it weight and the thin disk of
silver being replaced like the lid on a
blacking-boX, the coin was ready for
circulation. The result of all this work
was only the value of the silver ex-
tracted from the coin, and, unless the
operator had fine machinery and drove
a trade in the wholesale line, ID is
difficult to see how he made a laborer's
wages.
4nSIc axe III TIC cOllecClOn some
American silver dollars, the edges of
which indicate that deep furroW has
been plowed out in lathe, the gutter
thus made being then filed I'D with
white metal. There are a number of
Out-and-out counterfeit quarters and
half-dollars, most of them poor in ap-
pearance and very light in weight.
Some gold dollar peiceS are better
made, and would be taken by most per
sons without hesitation. The "gemh of
the collection, however, is twenty-dol-
Lar gold piece which it is difficult to
believe is not all it should be. This Mr..
Tandy explains, has been treated in the
same manner as the Mexican dollar al
ready described. The impression on
both sides is genuine, but the gold has
been scooped and its place filed with
a base metal. This coin came over in a
shipment of double eagles from London.
Anumber like it were caught up at one
tine or another. On cutting them up
it was found that the shell contained SIS
worth of gold. The operators, there
fore, got $14 out of every coin so treated
which they succeeded in passing.-New
York Telegram.