The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-08-26
COUNTERFEIT COIN.
Extent &C the Art Of Manufacturing Bad
.Aht8 Money.

- os'
The extent to which counterfeiting is car
ried on will probably never be known to
certainty, but that it is one Of the greatest dan.
gers to which the public is exposed as far as
swindling schemes are concerned there can
be no doubt. Even the severe penalty and
the vigilant work of the Secret Service De-
partment of the government has failed to
wipe out this evil, as is evident every now
and then when new arrest is made, and
the machinery of tho counterfeiters captured.
An officer of the Secret Service is authority
for the statement that COMMUNICATING is more
extensively practsed than is generally be.
lieved. Paper money is initiated so closely
that experts sometimes fail to notice the i'm
position, and coin of every description is
sounterfeited. Gold pieces are not coun-
forfeited so much as silver coin, for the rea-
son that gold counterfeit coins are made
from dies and not cast. The manufacturers
of the 80 queer must buy the gold, which
requires of course, considerable capital, and
the machinery is not only expensive, but of
such large proportions as to make it liable
to detection. In manufacturing counter
felt silver dollars almost any ingenious me-
chanic can do it after a little experience.
The machinery required is very simple, be-
ing only plaster of paris moulds of genuine
coin, britannia, block tin, lead tin, lead
and silver wash. The spurious coins are
hard to detect The weight test is the mos.
accurate and reliable, especially with gold
coin. The Treasury Department has set
Of maximum and minimum weights, which
distinguish the weight of all coins. For
example, the maximum of twenty dollar
gold piece is sic grains, and the minimum
513.42 grains. The difference is exactly
one-half of one per cent. the amount allow
ed by law.
= A great deal OF coins becomes light from
natural causes, and when they come int,
the hands of tho national Treasury they arr
sent to the Mint and reeoined, the govern
ment bearing the loss. As q general thing
nothing smaller than ten dollar gold piece
is ever filed, though the smaller coins are
plugged, which perhaps is the most COM
mon. A new process, however, has taken
the place of plugging to 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 n few
ing fresh coin considerable quantity OF
metal is obtained without reducing the
weight Of the piece to any great extent, and
they are then passed of again ON the public.
Sometimes as much as fifty cents In value b
taken from five-dollar gold piece, and as
much as eighty cents has been known to
have been taken from q double eagle. An.
other way of tampering with double eagles
is to remove their rough edges and remil
them. Between fifty and eighty cents can
be obtained in this way from single coin,
and the difference is not perceptible 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 bullion.
Some INSCRIPTIONS brokers buy them 70,
shipment to Canada, where maximum and
minimum weights are not considered, and
hey pass there for their face value, The
government, however, has stopped this TO a
certain extent by stamping on the face of
such the word light" Tho silver dollar
u called the vagabond of all coins. as it is
sampered with and counterfeited Sc much
Silver coin will not permit of as much tam