Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-10
, in order to keep up the

turned out every year in order to keep up the
supply.
Although called ''nickels.' scent pieces con-
tain only % per cent of nickel. with IS per cent
OF copper. The blanks for them are made by
contract. like those for cents, costing the gov
ernment II cents each.
THE DESIGNS FOR BRONZE Nrp.Is
1t has not yet been decided who will m axe
the designs for the bronze medals which are co
be awarded to successful exhibitors at the
worlds fair. Fifty thousand Of them are to be
struck. and it is probable that the work Of pro-
ducing them will be given out by contract
Congress has authorized the Secretary of the
Treasury to grant permission to any holder of
one Of these medals to have duplicates of it
made IN silver or gold at his own expense at
any OF the minis. The bureau of engraving
and printing at Washington is preparing plates
for the exposition diplomas Fifty thousand of
these diplomas, intended as awards TO exhibit
ors, will be printed on velium and delivered 10
the managers of the fair.
SPECIMENS FOR TESTING
Some Of the Columbian souvenir half dollars
are in the hands Of the government assayer at
the Treasury Department. Each Of them is about
six inches long, of n narrow oval shape, and
perforated with little round holes. This is the
form in which they appear after being rolled
out very thin and punched with a machine.
these are specimens sent from the Philadelphia
mint for the purpose of finding out whether
the pieces are of the weight and freness re-
CURED by law. They are rolled out thin TO be-
gin with. because, when the coin is made. the
silver In 1t has tendency to go toward the
middle, so that the metal on the outside is not
so fine as that within. But the expert must
discover the average fneness. in order to ascer-
tain how much silver there is altogether. and
he does this in very curious way He passes
the little sheet of metal into which the half
dollar has been rolled through a small machine
operated with crank turned by hand. 1t
comes out punched as full of holes a. it can be-
while hundreds of small circular disks about
the size of gold quarter dollar fall out OF the
holes TINS made into tiny box beneath. Next
the disks are taken out of the drawer and
mixed together. A few are picked ct random
from the lot and they, representing the aver
age OF silver in the coin, are subjected to chem
ical analysis.
HOW eoUNTERFEITs ARE CIRCULATED.
The prospect that the country may be flooded
next year with counterfeit worlds fair half
dollars is not a very agreeable one. Fortu-
nately. the detectives OF the secret service are
wonderfully clever. and they will be on the
watch. 1t is ALWAYS very difficult to secure the
arrest of a criminal who is actually engaged in
the business of producing false money. The
rule; ne is not even known to those who cir
culate the stuff" He has confidential ar
rangements with some person whom he sup
plies with stock of the product. This person
burles 1t secretly, selling it in small lots to
Quaintances whom he feels he can trust
usually at the rate of about 60 cents on dollar.
They put it into circulation. If one of them is
caught and confesses his statement will not suf-
flee to convict the man from whom he pur-
chased the bad coins. Surprising that the
doodle" is discovered on tho premises of the
negotiator. it does not follow that he will tes-
tify against the counterfeiter. In case ne does
SO the manufacturer has probably got the dies
and other paraphernalia safely hidden. The
point which the officers always regard as of the
greatest importance is to secure possession of
the dies OF of the engraved plates in the case of
paper counterfeits, and the author of the mis-
chief very commonly is able TO escape punish
ment entirely by bargaining for the surrender
OF his apparatus. On one day not long ago the
bureau of the secret service DESTROYED 56i dies,
1 100 plaster mods, hundreds of milling ma
chimes, crucibles and electro-plating batteries
all of which had been employed for illicit coin
ing. together with a great quantity of alleged
gold, silver. nickel and copper coins
WONDERFUL COLLECTION.
The Philadelphia mint has a very wonderful
collection of coins. Among other curiosities it
includes what is believed to be the oldest piece
OF metal money ever made, which was minted
in lEgina about 700 b. C. The design is in
high relief. representing 4 tortoise crawling
across the face of the coin. 1t has no date.
Dates on coins were unknown Up TO 400 wears
ago. The very early coins bore designs only on
one face. OF all coins that have ever ex-
listed the smallest in value was the mite" such
as the widow in the Bible dropped through the
slot of the poor box. The most valuable coin
in the collection described is Chinese piece
worth s220. 1t is simply rectangular chunk
Of gold stamped with Chinese characters
Lumps OF gold are commonly used in China for
currency oflarge denominations A coin minted
In Egypt bears the head of Queen Arsinoe who
was Cieopatras great-grea:- great-great-great-
great grandmother. Queerest OF all the coins
are those from Siam-irregular roundish Jumps
of silver, from the bigness Of a walnut to that
OF half buckshot. Modern coins though the
mechanical processes for producing them have
been so greatly improved are far inferior
artistically to those OF ancient times In Baby
Ion of old, which fell before coming was in
vented. gold and silver were weighed ont with
scales for use as money. The earliest form of
money is still in use today in southern Asia.
the islands of the Pacific ocean and parts of
Africa. where cowrie shells are the favorite
negotiable medium. They are usually quoted
ut about 100 for cents. Most of them are OBJ
tained from the Maldiye and Laccadiye Islands
in the Arabian sea.