Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-08
MEN WHO HAVE coRNERED COINS
How They Have Promoted Their Own
Pocket Interests.

From Tit-Bis
Nearly every one has come across individ-
uals who are under the deusion that Eng
fish 1861 pennies conta n a large percenta ge
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 a view to melting them down. A
Bradford man named Meyes, who ed last
year, used to boast that he possessed 1000.
He estimated their value at fl35.
In small towns it is quite possible to co.,
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 silver
collections that ii locked up every half
penny received. In a few weeks there was
hardly a halfpenny in the town, and the
band thenceforth reaped a harvest Of pen
MES. A Manchester man was struck by
the Inconvenience which resulted that, on
returning home, he opened a Copper
Change where, for a small comm.ss on
he received packages of pence from those
whose business brought them in too many
giving them silver in exchange.
In 1880 an Irshman of Cashel made bet
that thirty single shillings could not be got
in all the shops on certain day. For days
in advance he changed innumerable sover-
eigns and bank notes, thus cornering prac-
tically all the silver. He won his bet, his
opponent, who was, of course, in ignorance
of the trick, being able to scrape together
only eleven shilings.
Cornering coins with criminal intent led
to a Bayonne Frenchman named Borner
getting five months Imprisonment in Au-
gust last. -Bornier cornered several thou
sand 1888 sou pieces, and sold them at fifty
centimes 90 centSt each to simple minded
peasants, by declaring that the French
government was going to make each sou
bearing that date token money for one
franc. He swindled over 200 persons before
being apprehended
The ordinary type of the 1887 sixpence,
though worth nothing more than its nomi-
nal value, has been almost completely cor
nered by a number of individuals who be-
lieve that it will rise in price as a memento
of Queen Victoria's jubilee. OF the tens of
thousands issued from the mint few spec
mems are now in circulation.
COrnering good 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 traced to an American
visitor named Bragg. who, for some cryp-
tic reason, had the day before changed sew
eral hundred bank notes of high value into
gold. Laden with the coins, he left for
Paris and it was not for a week that the
normal amount of gold returned to the
town.
One of the effects of cornerlng coins of
any one denomination Is to make a run on
the local banks for change. A newspaper
lately published an amusing story of how
a bank manager in new Oklahoma settle
ment employed this fact to advance the in
terests Of his company:
Slas d. Petersen last month opened a
branch of his bank at Blue Creek. The
Blue Creekites scorned it; they had done
without a bank so far and saw no use for
one. The prospects We're bad. The man
ager had an idea. He sent his clerks to
all the stores to get change for green
backs. He soon had nearly all the coined
money in the settlement. The Creckites
nf ha oh hnt
change them anywhere. Some one suggest
ed changing them at the bank. rush
was made. AS each note was handed IN
the clerks handed out good silver coin
Every one charmed with the banks
courtesy. Next morning Arthur F. jack
son came in and opened an account, and
before noon every one with money had de-
posted 1t in the bank"
Superstition has led MANY ignorant indl-
viduals to collect large numbers of coins
of particular denomination. A remark
able case occurred in South Russia two
years ago. A prophet" appeared at Ber-
diansk. on the Sea Of AZov, and proclaimed
that he had come to save the world. Meet
Ing with bad reception from the towns
people, he tramped inland and gained many
peasant adherents. Among other queer
doctrines he preached that all five-copeck
pieces issued in 1861, the year of the eman-
c.pation of the serfs. were "holy." They
were to be brought to him for preservation
in an oaken chest. When Russia got into
and save the empire.
Over an area of 300 square miles the peas
ants feverishly set about collecting the holy
money. When the prophet had collected
about f40 worth he decamped, after chang
ing them at a local bank for gold.
An attempt to corner the Maria Theresa
dollars, which are used as currency in
many parts of northern Africa. collapsed
owing to queer cause. An Abyssnian
Ras Makoppo, conceived the ingenious idea
of collecting all specimens of these coins
extant in his district. AS they We're old
coins, he reasoned, they would rise in value.
After he had possessed himself of about
3,OC0 he found that the country was as well
supplied with them ever. While he had
been busy collecting them, modern Maria
Theresa dollars. made In Germany were
being imported by the thousand. The re-
suit was that the coin fell in value and the
too astute chief lost half his wealth.
The Russian government corners its own
coins. Every year it minis limited num-
Der of bronze coins Of the nominal value of
one-quarter copeck, In English value one
sixteenth Of a penny. AS these coins are
practically not in circulation only few are
issued. The remainder are sold by the
mint authorities at about double their
value for as card counters.
Birmingham boasts the only man who
corners bad coins This gentleman has a
unique collection of false money. Some
years ago he issued a notice to various
tradespeople that he would give one-quar-
ter of the nominal value for certain speci-
mems of counterfeit coins which might
have been passed upon them. He now pos
sesses several thousand, some so like good
money that the fraud is not perceptibIe
understand how any tradesman could have
been taken in.