The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1885-09-03
MAKING SPURIOUS COIN.
How Counterfeiters Defraud
the Government.
The Extent to Which the Business is
Carried on in This Country.

Uarrled on in This Country.
The extent to which counterfeiting
is carried on will probably never be
known to certainty. but that it is
one OF the greatest dangers to which
the public is exposed as far as swind-
ling schemes are concerned there can
be no doubt. Even the severe penal
ty and the vigilant work of the Secret
Service Department of the government
has failed to wipe out this evil. as is
evident every now and then when
new arrest is made and the machine
ry of the counterfeiters captured. An
officer of the Secret Service is authori-
ty for the statement that counterfeit
ing is more extensively practiced than
is generally believed. Paper money
is initiated SO closely that experts
sometimes fail to notice the imposi-
tion, and coin of every description is
counterfeited 1t is singular that but
one counterfeit $50 gold piece has ever
been discovered, and this bears the
date 1850. In making this genuine
double eagle was split, one side being
left thicker than the other. AS much
gold as possible was then scoored out
of the thick side, and mixture of
platinum and some other metal sub.
stituted to bring it up to the standard
weight. 1t is what is known as Il
"lilled coin," and is worth from 81 to
IS. A $40 gold piece filled in the
same way is worth from IS to 81 so.
There are quite number of $40 coun,
terfelts. The dates of these Tiled or
cOunterfeits are lS4l-47-49 -55-6l-75
70 and 80. The one considered the
most dangerous is dated lS47. The
first counterfeit half-eagle. or IS gold
piece, that the secret service discover
ed was issued in 1850, and no less
than twenty-five have appeared since
then, some of these being absolutely
worthless, while others are worth
from $40 to $I.63 each. The ones
dated 1892 are the most skilfully exc
cuted counterfeits known. Gold
pieces are not counterfeited SO much
as sill C coin, for the reason that gold
counterfeit coins are made from dies
and not cast The manufacturers of
the queer" must buy the gold, which
requires, of course, cor siderable capi-
tai, and the machinery is not only ex-
pensive, but OF such large proportions
as to make it liable to detection. In
manufacturing counterfeit silver dol
lars almost any ingenious mechanic
can do it after little experience. The
machinery required is very simple, be-
ing only plaster of paris molds, genu-
inc coin, brittania block tin, lead, an6
silver wash. The spurious coins are
hard to detect. The weight test is the
most accurate and reliable, especially,
with gold coin. The Treasury De-
partment has set of maximum and
minimum weights, which distinguish
the weights of all coins. For example
the maximum of a $40 gold piece is
SIG grams and the minimum 5l342
grains. The difference is exactly one
half of l per cent, the amount allow
ed by law.
A great deal of coin becomes light
from natural causes and when they
come into the hands of the national
Treasury they are sent to the mint and
recoined, the government bearing the
loss. AS general thing nothing
smaller than a $40 gold piece is ever
filled, though the smaller coins are
plugged, which is perhaps the most
common. A new process, however,
has taken the place of plugging to a
great extent. and is called sweating"
Some photographers are credited with
doing this kind of thing. The modus
operandi of this new process is to take
number of gold or silver pieces and
suspend them in some acid for few
moments, and then withdraw them.
BY using fresh coins considerable
quantity of metal is obtained without
reducing the weight of the pieces to
any great extent, and they are then
passed off again OF the public. Some
times as much as fifty cents in value
is taken from IS gold piece, and as
much as eighty cents has been known
to have been taken from a double
eagle. Another way of tampering
with double eagles is to remove their
rough edges and remill them. Be-
tween fifty and eighty cents can be
obtained in this way from single
coin, and the difference is not percept-
ible to the naked eye. Silver coin
that is less than the minimum weight |
is rejected by the Treasury officials,
and the owners are obliged to pass
them if they can or sell them for bull
lion. Some INSCRIPTIONS brokers buy
them for shipment to Canada where
maximum and minimum weight are
not considered, and they pass for face
value. The government, however, has
stopped this to certain extent by
stamping on the face of each the word
Eight" The silver dollar is called the
vagabond of all coins, as it is tamper-
ed with and counterfeited so much.
Silver coin will not permit of as much
tampering with as gold coin. For in
stance, take $50 gold piece, stamp it