Connecticut western news., 1885-09-09
MAKING SPURIOUS COIN.
How Counterfeiters Defraud
 the Government.
The Extent to Which the Business is
 Carried on in This Country,


 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
 " 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. It is singular that but one counterfeit $20 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 scooLed out of the thick side, and mixture of platinum and some other metal sub stituted to bring it up to the standard
 weight. It is what is known as a "flled coin," and is worth from $7 to $8. A $l0 gold piece filled in the same way is worth from s to $450. There are quite number of $10 coun- terfeits. The dates of these filled or counterfeits are 1841-47-49-55-61-75 -79 and 80. The one considered the most dangerous is dated 1847. The first counterfeit half-eagle. or $5 gold piece, that the secret service discover ed was issued in 1850, and no less than twenty-two have appeared since then, some of these being absolutely worthless, while3 others are worth from $2.70 to S4.69 each. The ones dated 1882 are the most skillfully exc cuted counterfeits known. Gold pieces are. not counterfeited so much as silver 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, considerable 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, and 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 $20 gold piece is 516 grains and the minimum 513.4S grains. The difference is exactly ont half of per cent, the amount allow, ed by law. --. .......... ....- -.f
 A great. deal of coin becomes light from natural causes and when they come into the hands of the nationa Treasury they are sent to the mint ant recoined, the government bearing tn, loss. As general thing nothing smaller than a $10 gold piece is evel filled, though the smaller coins ar, plugged, which is perhaps the mos
 common. A new process, however has taken the place of plugging to { great extent, and is called sweating Some photographers are credited witt doing this kind of thing. The modu
 opero'edt of this new process is to talk, a number of gold or silver pieces and suspend them in some acid for a few moments, and then withdraw them By using fresh coins considerable quantity of metal is obtained without reducing the weight of the pieces t any great extent, and they are then passed off again oc the public. Some times as much as fifty cents in valut is taken from $5 gold piece, and a
 much as eighty cents has been knowI to have been taken from a doublt eagle. Another way of tamperine with double eagles is to remove theil rough edges and remill them. Be tween fifty and eighty cents can b
 obtained in this way from a singI
 coin, and the difference is not percept
 ible to the naked eye. Silver coil that is less than the minimum weigh
 is rejected by the Treasury officials
 and the owners are obliged to pas
 them if they can or sell them for bul
 lion. Some interruptions brokers bu, them for shipment to Canada wher
 maximum and minimum weight ar
 not considered, and they pass for fac
 value. The government, however, ha
 stopped this to a certain extent b stamping on the face of each the wor flight" The silver dollar is called tn vagabond of all coins, as 1t is tamper , ed with and counterfeited so much Silver coin will not permit of as mucl tampering with as gold coin. For in stance, take $20 gold piece, stamp and punch holes through it at random and if the weight has not been detraet ! ed from (its minimum weight) it worth it's face value to any gold-beat er If as much as a single letter i
 put upon silver dollar, it is bullion