Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-25
ABOUT GOLD COINS.
Facts Concerning Them of Interest
 to Every Body.
Tho Hands omest-Loss by Wearing Away Tho Average eLife-Counterfeits- Brief History of Gold Coin-
 age in This Country.

Coin Clerk Vassar sat in his little wire-work cage at the sub-treasury re- gently. To tho left of him and to the right of him, and, in fact, all about him, were stacks of yellow, glistening coin. They were tho deposits of the day, and had come in from the banks which had become overburdened with the precious metal, merchants and the custom-house. In big brass scoop were many hun dreds of s pieces, which, after being carefully weighed, were dumped in white canvas bag, the mouth se- curely fastened with heavy hempen cord, and then taken to one of the vaults, where they were to remain until wanted for commercial purposes. Per haps they might lie for twenty years, if there was no extraordinary demand for gold.
 What is the handsomest coin made?" inquired tho Boston Herald investi- gator.
 Well, should say the American double eagle. Of course don't see all the coins of the earth here, as we are not allowed to receive those of foreign countries, but as far as my experience GoSo HAdSO ouI ~SV gnu pAoCo dC the head of all others for beauty of design; in fact, all the gold coinage is handsome money. The Government devotes a great deal of time to perfect ing it. The metal is furnished to per lection, and if sheet of it were hung up in your bedroom it would serve all the purposes of q mirror. From these sheets the disks, or planchettes, as they are technically known, are stamped, after which they arc placed under the dies and receive the pattern of the piece they are to represent. Sometimes we get one or two of these blanks, which have escaped the operator, in an invoice of gold from the mint"
 "When is coin unfit for circula- tion?"
 ''I will take S2O piece to aid me in answering that question. The Government provides that all coins of this denomination shall weigh 516 grains when they leave the mint, and will receive them so long as they tip the scales at 513.42 grains. This is the limit of toleration, or minimum weight, The Government is willing to stand this loss, which means about nine cents on double eagle. It is the practice, be- ieve, in somo of the sub-treasuries to pay out coins of this weight, but we have made it a rule hero not to again place them in circulation, as 1t would take but a very short time to wear them down below the minimum, and the holder would then have to dispose of them at their bullion value. We have now on deposit S400,000 of minimum weight coins, some of which have been in our keeping for the past decade await ing an appropriation by Congress that will admit of their being melted up and restamped. There is another class of coins that is never paid out, it being known as cad pieces. They are the re- suit of imperfect metal, and are abso- lutely without sound. People who get hold of them run here to find out whether they have been swindled, as they believe the value of metal money depends upon its ring.i'
 What is the loss to the Government on its gold coinage?"
 "About one quarter of one per cent, or $2.5O on S1 ,OoO."
 "There is popular fallacy that gold
 is not counted by the Government?"
 ''It is not only counted, but every
 piece is carefully inspected. We could
 not go by weight, as there are many | plugged pieces, and sometimes a coun. | terfeit finds it's way hero which is up to | weight"
 What is the finest gold counterfeit you have eser seen?"
 ''It was 8 piece. remember receiP- l ing one of them from q Portland bank and sending it back for a good one. They claimed I had made very big | error, and were very enthusiastto In their criticism of this office. The piece | was finally forwarded to Washington, ] and, after a careful examination of 1t, I was sustained. The Portland bank sent 1 an apology ,c me for it's hasty action. l The piece was one of number issued
 in 1872, and bore the imprint of the Car
 son City mint. It contained l20 grains of gold and was Is karat fine instead of
 g, the legal standard of fineness, and
 was worth just S4.43. The other ingre-
 dients were silver, copper and platinum.
 The mystery to mo is how they made
 the business pay. The counterfeiting l of gold coin in this country began in 1900 and has continued until the present day"
 "What is the life ef 2 gold coin?"
 About thirty years fin the United
 States, but in England and other coun- tries, where it is largely used by the people as medium of exchange, it lasts