The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1884-07-20
ABOUT COUNTERFEITS.
TOLD BY WEIGHT, TOUCH AND RING.
The Odd Jingle of tho Newest Counter.
terfeits-RascalIy Coins-Counterfeiters
Who Have Secrets Which Experts
Can Not Discover.
IN. Y. NAL and Express

IN L. MAl ana Express.
THAT'S no good" said the clerk, as he
showed ten-cent piece back across the
counter of Broadway restaurant.
"Yes it is" said the man who picked it
up and again laid it down, ringing it as he
did 50. "l'll bet five dollars on it,"
81 don't want to bet with you" said the
man, who had not even touched the coin,
glancing toward reporter, "but will if
you insiss It's glass counterfeit, and |
don't X. w what's in it besides glass, but
can prove it to you that it's no good with.
out it's costing you a five dollar bill. Do
you mind risklng the ten.cent piece on the
test?"
"No," said the customer.
The man behind the counter picked the,
token up, laid one edge of it on the coun.
ter, holding his thumb and forefinger on
the other, and with quick pressure broke
it in two in nearly straight line, which
left about two even halves. The man
looked on in stupid astonishment and
picked up one OF the pieces. The broken
edge did not look like glass, hut its texture
showed readily that it was friable and not
malleabe.
"Now, I'll show YOU" said the man, a
he pi ked up little hammer and gave the
half lying on the counter couple of quick
cracks. 1t was pulverized as if it had
been hammered in mortar, and showed
only bits of brittle broken substances,
glass-like in all respects except color. The
PARTICLES We're a dead lead color aud tie
still unhroken half showed date of 1850,
indicating that the counterfeiters had, on
account Of its color, decided to take an
old instead of a recent date.
These coins have been made to weigh
and ring so like silver that it is impossi.
bic to tell to what extent they have been
circulated, and doubtless many have
passed through many hands without hav.
ing created any suspicion. Markem
Brothers, who handle enormous quantities
of silver of all sorts, said they had seen
two samples. The coins are made in all
grades, and the two they saw were both
standard dollars. One of the brokers was
hand to his left when his eye caught the
mlled edge of the coin, which looked thick.
or than its predecessors and successors.
Picking it out he found that the milling
was not quite so distinct as it should be
and the coin had dead look, but
answered correctly to the touch.
He threw it out and refused
to take it, returning it to his
customer. A few days afterward man
came in with a similar coin, only that it
was already broken in two pieces, which
fell apart as the stack of coin rippled over
his finger ends. The edges looked like
those of lump of mica or sheeted ism.
glass, as they are found by geological field
hunters. That there was glass in it he
could only guess, and has never met any
one who could suggest method by which
base metal could be combined with glass
so as to give true weight and the right
ring. The glass is evidently intended to
make the ring correct, and yet it must be
thoroughly mixed with the metal, or it
could not be broken with the pressure of
a thumb.
"HOw do you detect counterfeit coin,
Mr.. Markem?'
"Ah! that l can't tell you; | don't
know" The pile of dollars, thirty high,
trickled down his hand and were lodged in
even piles in the corner of the tray as he
remarked, land | can't tell you how
count them, but you see they all come out
in twenty five dollar stacks. Ill wager
that don't miss "A bad coin, but how,
don't know. Weight and touch and ring
have all to do with it, and a quick eye as
sists. AS these dollars slide from one
hand to the other the eye takes in the
milled edges of the coin; my fingers tell
me whether there is something lost or ad
ded in weight, and also whether there is a
t1,aV lNrNy Ipf., trh
mean silver. As the coins run together |
get the ring so perfectly that if one coin is
n like another my ear tells it at once
and so surely that, fast as they run, can
pick up the exact coin in second. You
see it can be only a matter of experience
and training. It's like IA child playing
jacks, one will catch every pebble and an.
o her won't. do not for a moment pre-.
tend to know how these glass counterfeits
are made or how they can be made to
weigh and ring, but the thing | do know is
the touch and ring of genuine silver. Moth
ing else has the same touch or the same
ring, and on that can not be deceived.
"My fingers tell me more than my eyes
do, but the eye will measure the thickness
and the mill~d edge of coin as fast as
they can fall when the eye is trained to
that business. 1t lis the same with postage
and internal revenue stamps. We can not
be deceived by them. Outsiders and
strangers make the mistake of looking for
counterfeits. We never do that. We know
the genuine and look for it, and when the
symptoms are against it we don't take it.
We hunt for good coin; other people hunt
Tor bad"
a reporter visited various silver and
glass men in the city in the hope of find
ing out what were the characteristics of
the combination 10y which glass could be
mixed with base metals. He did not sue
coed. The secrets of the counterfeiters
are not known to the smelters, nor are
they to the glass workers, and neither can
understand how there can be an alnalgam
or a lusing. The tad metal, according to
that. must be some comparatively new dis.
covery. Glass weighs only one-tenth that
of silver, and no base metals approach
the weight Of silver, so thai aN svs pux