Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-08-27


be no doubt Even the severe penalty
and the vigilant work of the Secret
Service Department of the Govern
ment has failed to wipe out this evil,
as is evident every now and then
when a new arrest is made and the
machinery OF the counterfeiters cap
tured. An officer of the Secret Ser
vice is authority for the statement
that counterfeiting is more extensive
ly practlced than is generally believ'
ed. Paper money is initiated SO
closely that experts sometimes fail to
notice the imposition, and coin of
every description is counterfeited.
1t is a singular fact that but one
$50 gold piece has ever been discover
ed, and this bears the date of 1850.
In making this genuine double eagle
was split, one side being left thicker
than the other. AS much gold as pos
sible was then scooped out of the thick
side, and mixture of plantinum and
some other metal substituted to bring
it up to the standard weight. It is
what Is known as "flled coin," and
is worth from 81 to S.. A $40 gold
piece filed in the same way is worth
from So to $3.50. There are quite a
number of so counterfeits. The
dates of these filled or counterfeited
are 1841 AZ 40 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 discovered was issued in 1850,
and no less than twenty-five have ap-
| peared since then, some Of them being
absolutely worthless, while others are
worth from 50 70 to 81 So each. The
ones dated 1882 are the most skillfully
executed counterfeits known. Gold
pieces are not counterfeited so much
as silver com, 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-
pensiye, but of such large proportions
as to make it liable to detection. Ia
manufacturing counterfeit silver dol
lars almost any ingenious mechanics
can do 1t after a little experience.
The machinery required is very SIM
pie, being only plaster of paris moulds,
genuine COIN, brittan, block tin, lead
tin, lead and silver wash. The spuri-
GUS coins are hard to detect. The
weight test is the most accurate and
reliable, especially with gold coin.
The treasury department has set of
maximum and minimum weights,
which distinguish the weights of all
coins. For example, the maximum
of $50 gold piece is SIG grains and
the minimum 513 40 grains. The diff
ference is exactly one~half of 1 per
cent, the amount allowed 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 a general thing, nothing but
$40 gold piece is ever filed, though
the smaller coins are plugged, Which
| perhaps is the most common. A new
process, however, has taken the place
of plugging to great extent. and is
! called sweating" Some photographs
ers are credited with doing this kind
of work. The modus operandi of this
new process is to take a number of
gold Or silver pieces aad suspend them
In some acid for few moments and
withdraw them. By using fresh coin
a considerable quantity of metal is OBJ
tanned, without reducing the weight
of the pieces to any great extent and
then they are passed off again on the
public. Sometimes as much as fifty
cents IN vaule is taken from S. gold
piece, and as much as eighty cents has
been known to have been taken from
double eagle. Another way Of tam
pering with double eagles is to remove
their rough edges and remill them.
Between so and so cents can be OBJ
tanned in this way from a single coin,
and the difference is not perceptlble to
the naked eye. Silver COIN that is
less than the minimum weight is reject
ed by the Treasury officials, and the
owners are obliged to pass them if
they can or sell them for bullion.
Some unscrupulous brokers buy them
for shipment to Canada, where max
imum and maninum weights are not
considered, and they pass there for
their face value. The Government,
however, has stopped this to certain
extent by stamping on the face of each
the word light" The silver doller is
called the vagabond of all coins, as it
is tampered with and counterfeited SO
much. Silver coin will not permit of
as much tamperlng as gold coin. For
instance, take a $50 gold piece, stamp
it and punch holes through it at ran
dom, and, if the weight has not been
detracted from Gts minimum weight
it is worth it's face value to any gold
beater. If as much as a single letter
is put upon silver dollar, it is bullion
worth from SO to Sc cents. The latest
swindle relating to spurious money is
the split bank note fraud. A $50 note
is taken, and by some ingenious
method the note Is split In two, and
the raw side is ''doctored up" and
each half is passed off as a genuine
$50 note. The work is done so artist.
cally in most cases that it is difficult
at first to detect the fraud.
The Power of Sympathy.