Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-10

W. - N(Vrq% these COINS nave an
AJ\AbS ET actual intrinsic value Of
VI slMH only thirty cents each.
D~" FIhi Accordingly, makers of
false money could very
well afford to manufacture limitations with
exactly the same amount Of silver as the real
pieces contain. Inasmuch as the latter are
worth one dollar apiece in the market. the profit
would be seventy cents on every bogus half
dollar turned out Tho metal composition
being the same as that employed at the mint.
the rest is merely question of mechanical
Skill. No wonder then that the government
detectives are anxious.
AN INFERIOR BRANCH OF THE CONTEMPLATING
BUSINESS.
Under the circums tances it is fortunate that
the counterfeiting OF coins as an art is at pres
ent far behind the imitation of paper money.
II has always been regarded as an inferior
branch of the business, probably because of the
comparatively small profits obtained from it.
AT all events, the criminals who practice it pro-
fessionally are of very low class. Most of
them In this country are Italians-members as
rule, of the Srea: gangs organized for pur-
poses of murder and thieving of all sorts
which transplant their principles and practices
to American soil. BY means Of their wide
spread organization thoy arc enabled to issue
| any new kind of false money simultaneously
from many points great distance apart thus
making it very difficult to discover the source
of supply. The Chinese are very successful
| coiners On the walls of the Office of the secret
service at the Treasury Department are framed
a great number of photographs representing
the members of Chinese and Italian gangs
which have been brought to justice for prose-
cutting this industry.
WHY COUNTERFEIT COINS ARE CLUMSY INVITATIONS
Such highly skilled and intelligent experts as
have exercised their ingenuity in producing
limitations of paper money have never applied
themselves to the counterfeiting of coins Thus
it happens that false coins are nearly always of
clumsy make and readily detected Verv rarely
does one appear that is sufficiently well exc
cuted to be dangerous. A while ago the officers
OF the secret service had some trouble with q
bogus silver dollar which unusually well
calculated to deceive having the right weight
good appearance and true ''ring." These
three essential qualities are not often combined
in bad coin. The ring which is most apt to be
lacking, was supplied in this instance by an adj
mixture OF q small proportion of powdered
glass. IL Is surprising what wretched imita-
tons of metal pieces will pass current, particu-
larry in the south. where counterfeits OF silver
as well as of paper money find wide distribu-
ton and ready acceptance among the negroes
Some of them are nothing more than disks OF
lead covered with stamped tinfoil. Bogus
nickels have been manufactured by thousands
III THIS SIMPLE fashion.
THE SOUVENIR HALF DOLLARS.
The 5000 900 souTenir half dollars now being
minted in Philadelphia by order of Congress
will be shipped to Chicago in lots to suit rs
soon rs the managers of the worlds fair have
complied with the law, which requires that they
shall first submit vouchers showing that they
have collected and dsbursed for the exposition
$40 900, 900. The coins are being advertised all
over the country for sale Mt 81 each. Their
purchase is urged as good investment on the
ground that they may be expected to be worth
much higher price some day as curiosties
As an argument it is stated that the United
States gold hall eagle OF 1922 has value to-
day of 5000. while the silver dollar of 1894 will
fetch an equal amount. The silver half dollar
of 1896 is quoted at $50 so. the silver scent
piece Of 1912 at 800. the eagle penny of
1886 at 50 and the 1893 copper cent at $50.
The advertisement OF these values will doubt
less set people everywhere to looking over the
contents OF stockings and cracked teapots. A
typewriter company has paid $40. 900 for the
first of the new so cent pieces struck off.
The 400th. the l,492d and the 1,S92d half
dollars coined will be sent to Chicago with affi-
davits and will be sold.
1t is rather curious that the United States has
never issued a coin to commemorate an event
before. Such souvenirs have frequently been
minted by other natious-as, for example, the
Prussian King Williams coronation piece in
gold quintuple sovereign of Queen Victoria's
jubilee, the last having face value Of S24.33.
THE QUANTITY OF SILVER REQUIRED
to make the 5000. 900 souvenir half dollars was
just about 100 tons. This metal was brought to
the Philadelphia mint from the mines through
the United States assay offices in the shape of
big bricks. The bricks were dissolved by nitric
acid In large tank. When precipitated from
the acld the precious substance appears in a
flne powder, looking so much like ordinary
plaster of paris that the casual observer would
not Imagine it to be any more valuable This
powdery stuff is pressed into thick round
blocks. in which form it goes to another room,
where alchemists at 80. so day melt the blocks
in crucibles Of black lead half Buried in glowing
Goals. Incidentally to melting the pure silver
10 per cent OF copper is mixed with it. Silver
Is soft metal and the copper makes the coins
hard so that they will withstand abrasion. This
mixture is poured into iron mods, from which
1t again comes out in bricks.
COINS FROM BLANKS"
The bricks are sliced into strips and the latter
are rolled out by machines until they are Of
precisely the thickness Of half dollar Then
they are passed beneatha punching continuance
which punches round disks out of them at the
rate of 100 a minute. These disks are the
'blanks" which are destined to circulate as
coins In the pockets Of the people. However,
tuey nave 70 go through good many processes
yet before they become money. After they are
washed they are pu. through machine which
gives each Of them q raised edge all around,
called the milling" Next they are softened BY
being heated red hot in an oven. 30 that they
may properly receive the impress of the dies
On being taken from the oven they are stirred
about with scoops in a chemical bath, from
which they are shoveled into cylinder filed
with sawdust. At this stage they are dull white,
looking like SO many celluloid poker chips; but
after being turned about for a while with the
sawdust in the revolving cylinder they come
out bright and shining, all ready to be stamped
Womsn feed them to the dies, which strike
them off as fast eighty a minute, printing
both sides at once and at the same time cor
rugating the edges. This corrugation is called
the "reeding." The minted coins drop into
boxes beneath Each one OF them is carefully
examined before being allowed to pass, and
finally they are counted in frames, SO con-
structed that 1t is possible for skilled hand to
reckon them at the rate OF 5000 minute.
THE BRONZE CENTS.
As one goes through the mint the eye is
attracted by big boxes ovsrAowing with brightly
shining disks Of yellow metal. Any person not
otherwise informed would suppose that these
were gold pieces, representing millions Of dol
lars. but in reality they are only bronze
BLANKS" for cents, fresh from the factory IN
Connecticut which turns them out by contract
for Uncle sam. They cost tho government a
/