Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-17
MEN WHO coRNERED COINS.
In Some Instances This Has Been Done
With Profit.
From Tit Bits.

From lit Bits.
Nearly every one has come across individ-
uals who are under the deluston that Eng
lsh 1851 pennies contain large percentage
of gold. The gold of course, is non-exist-
ent. But that fact has not prevented many
estimable individuals collecting all the 1861
pennies they could lay their hands upon
with view to melting them down. A Brad
ford man names Meyes who died last year,
used to boast that he possessed 1900. lie
estimated their value at f135.
In small towns it is quite possible to cor
ner, for limited period, coins of any one
denomination. At a Welsh holiday resort
the local band was so indignant at the large
proportion of halfpennies in its "slver col
lections'' that 1t locked up every halfpenny
received. In a few weeks there was hardly
a halfpenny in the town, and the band
henceforth reaped harvest of pennies. A
Manchester man was so struck by the in
convenience which resulted that, on return
ing home, he opened copper change"
where, for small commission, he received
packages of pence from those whose bust
ness brought them in too many, giving them
silver in exchange
In 1889 an Irishman of Cashel made a bet
that thirty single shilings could not be got
in all the shops on certain day. For days
in advance he changed inuumerable sover-
eigns and bank notes, thus cornering prac-
tically all the silver. He won his bet, his
of the trick, being able TO scrape together
only eleven shillings.
Cornering coins with criminal intent led
to q Bayonne Frenchman named Bornier
getting five months Imprisonment IN Au-
gust last Bornier cornered several thou
sand 1883 sou pieces, and sold them at fifty
confines 40 cents) each to supplemented
peasants, by declaring that the French gov
eminent was going to make each sou bear
ing that date token money for one franc
He swludled over 200 persons before being
apprehended.
though worth nothing more than its nomi-
nal value, has been almost completely cor
nered by number of individuals who be-
leve that II will rise in price memento
of Queen Victoria's jubilee. OF the tens of
thousands issued from the mint few speci-
mems are now In circulation
Cornering gold coins demands a capital
which few men possess. AT Dieppe, how
ever, some years ago, there was a sudden
scarcity of ten franc and twenty franc
pieces. which was traced to an American
visitor named Bragg who, for some cryptic
hundred bank notes of high value into gold
Laden with the coins he left for Paris, and
it was not for week that the normal
amount of gold returned to the town
Superstition has led many ignorant indi-
VidualS to collect large numbers of coins
of a particular denomination. A remark
able case occurred in South Russia two
years ago. prophet appeared at Berd-
iansk, on the Sea of Azov, and proclaimed
that he had come to save the world Meet
ing with q bad reception from the towns
people, he tramped inland and gained many
peasant adherents. Among other queer doe
trines, he preached that all five copeck
| pieces issued in 1881, the year of the enamel
patton Of the serfs, were holy" They were
| to be brought to him for preservation in