St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-06-26
The New Counterfeit.
ONE OF THE MOST INGENIOUS SCHEMES
OF THE AGE.

The New York Journal has an arti-
Gle on the new counterfeit of silver
coin, composed of glass. We quote:
."That's no good said the clerk, in
the presence of reporter, as he
showed 10 cent piece back across the
counter of Il Broadway restaurant.
eyes it is" said the man, who picked
it up and again laid it down, ringing
it as he did 50.
The man behind the counter picked
the token up, laid one edge of it on
the counter, holding his thumb and
forefinger on the other, and, with
quick pressure, broke it in two in Il
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, but its texture
showed readily that it was triable and
not malleahle.
"Now, I'll show yOu.' said the man,
us he picked up Il little hammer and
gave the half lying on the counter Il
couple of quick cracks. 1t was pull
verized as if it had been hammered in
IA mortar, and showed only bits of brit
tie, broken substances, glass like in all
respects except color. The PARTICLES
were a dead lead color and the still I'M
broken half showed Il date of $3.50, in
dicating that the cOuntcrfeiters had,
on account of its dead 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
impossible to tell to what extent they
have been circulated, and doubtless
many have passed through many hands
without creating any suspicion. Mark
EN- Bros, who handle enormous guam
titles of silver of all sorts, said they
had seen two samples. The coins are
made in all grades, and the samples
they saw were both standard dollars.
One of the brokers was trailing Il fist
full of dollars from his right hand to
his left, when his eye caught the milled
edge of the coin, which looked thicker
than its predecessors and successors.
Picking it out he foInd that the mill
ing was not quite SO distinct as it
should be, and the coin had dead
look, but answered correctly to the
touch. He threw it ont and refused to
take it, returning it to his customer.
\ few days afterward II man came in
with Il similar coin, only that it was
already broken into two pieces, which
fell apart as the stack of coins rippled
over his finger ends. The edges looked
| like those of lump of mica, or sheet
/ ed isinglass, as they are tOund by geo
/ logical field hunters. That there was
! glass in it he could only guess, and has
never met any one who could suggest
| a method by which base metal could
| Ice 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.
! | do not for moment pretend to
| know how these glass cOunterfeits are
made, or how they can be made t.
weigh and ring, but the thing | do
know is the touch and ring of genuine
silver. Nothing else has the same
touch or the same ring, and on that
can not he deceived.
A reporter visited various silver and
I glass men in the city. in the hope OF
/ finding out what were the character
istics of the combination by which
/ glass could be mixed with base metals.
| He did not succeed. The secrets of
the couuterfeiters are not known to
the smelters. nor are they to the glass
workers. and neither can understand
how there can be an amalgam or fus
! ing. The bad metal, according TO
that, must be some comparatively new
discovery. Glass weighs only one
tenth that of silver, and no base metals
approach the weight of silver, so that
all are puzzled.