The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-09-30
CUNNING WAYS IF THE COUNTERFEITER s Still Quite Busy in the
 United States BEST COINS MADE WITH DIE Some Excellent limitations Are Made by Men Who Are Adopts In the
 Art-The Grade of the l Gold Used.
BEST COINS MADE WITH DIE
From the Washington Star.

this old building" said an official of the treasury department to a Star reporter. .'there are nevertheless a great many of these coins current, and they are coun- Aerfeited, together with our silver coins, more than the average person would sup pose.
 T will give you a few suggestions on the manufacture of good and counterfeit coins of the various denominations which will be of interest and value to the pub lie. The three principal treasury tests of coins are: First, the weight; eecond, the diameter and third the thickness. The counterfeiter who succeeds in making his dies and the spurious metal alloy which will meet all of these tests Is indeed smart one. With some alloys he may be able to work out the weight, but the di- ameter of the coin would reveal that 1t is a counterfeit product. or even a very slight increase in the thickness of the H. licitly made article sould show at once its counterfeit origin.
 The superior grade of coin commercials are made with a die. Some of the more perfect ones are almost exact replicas of our own minted products. and have sharp, true ring, smooth, well-flnished
 
 finely delineated. The reeding-the little raised and indented marks on the edges of tho coin--is not as sharp and clear as the reeding on the genuine coins. While many of the finer commercials are of full weight they are usually a little short of weight Some of these gold coin coun- ferfeits are so well made and are of such fine appearance that they pass current until they reach the hands of the coin eX- perts in this building.
 Lower Grade Gold is Used.
 '.rhe standard gold used by the mint Is DO fine or M.19 carats. The most decep- tive gold commercials are made of a low CT grade gold, of from 600 to 800 fine. and as low as 400 fine in the more inferior grades of commercials. The most decep tive gold commercials are those which are manufactured from an alloy of gold, cop per and silver. Platinum is a metal which is used by the expert counterfeiter to gain the necessary weight to his product. and when these platinum commercials are struck off in good dies, and then very heavily gold plated, they prove to be very dangerous commercials when first Showed by the accomplices of the man who usual ly does the spurious minting, he generally keeping out of sight. for he is too valua- ble d man in the trade to be 'nabbed' in the passing stunt. The gold plating wears off in due time, and the base metal Is re- Vealed
 "A comparison of the piece with the genuine of the same coinage and date, to- Rether with a critical inspection of the minting, general appearance. die impress, ring, size and weight, will be found accu rate tests when in doubt as to whether q coin Is genuine or spurious. The familiar acid test may also be applied.
 "Counterfeit coins made in molds are the more common and more easily detect ed The mold counterfeit usually applies to silver coins. A number of years ago there were many courterfeits of silver coins made of lead and type metal, but these have largely passed because of their easy detection both as to sight and feel ing, as they are slippery to the touch as compared with the real silver coin The molding process is a cheap one to set up, and Is largely induged in by foreigners, who pass their bad products upon their own countrymen when the latter are green as to the genuine coin.
 "The sharp, clear-eut appearance of the genuine coin is absent, the milling and lettering are dim, while the reading is usually very faint and poorly delineated. Nevertheless. some pretty fair silver couE- terfeit coins are turned out of molds, but the weight is generally short when an att tempt is made to bring them within the specified thickness and diameter.
 Still Going On.
 "That there Is considerable counterfeit ing in coins still attempted Is shown by the fact that our secret service officers captured $6,000 in spurious gold coins and $l0oO00 in silver coins during the past year The more expert silver coin coun- terfslte.s use for their product of the lar ger silver coins an alloy of abou. two thirds antimony and one-third lead. and when they heavily plate these productions they get out deceptive coin which has pretty fair ring The good old standby test of the required weight gives these coins away in the hands of one used to handling money, though in some sections of the country they get into circulation easily The dollar-plece makes the most dangerous of this class of commercials.
 f.Some of the molds are made of metal, but most of them are made of plaster of paris The So and the sl0 gold pieces are the most favored by the counterfeiter the SEQ gold piece being very hard to repro duce so as to bafie detection. as the die of this coin is the most beautiful and the hardest to initiate of any of our gold coins. The predominating silver pieces of counterfeit production are the 50 and 20 cent pieces and the standard silver dollar. The first two pieces of subsidiary coin are the most easily showed
 Nickel pieces have been gold plated and passed on immigrants and foreigners at New York as genuine United States gold pieces of the s5 denomination, but they would not deceive an American Sometimes counterfeit of the subsidiary coins is ral1ed in stamped out of brass or copper and plated. but these coins are all of light weight. and should not be decep- tive. Coins of the commoner metals as of pewter. are too light to be deceptive except on greenhorns of the far overtime sea variety These coins are thickened to give them a weight approaching xhe real article, and ought to be readily detected.
 Doctor" Genuine Coins.
 "Some counterfeiters employ their time in factoring genuine coins of gold as it would not pay them to fool with the sil- yer product Plugging is the favorite method employed, and the larger denomi- nations of the gold coins. especially the s20 gold piece, are selected They bore out the interior of these large coins with delicate instruments, and can get out sev- eral dollars worth of the pure gold from each coin thus 'doctored The hole is drilled in the edges, and so expertly Is It done. and so neatly and sklfully is the Interior plugged with bad but weighty metal. that these coins often defy detec- ton until they reach the hands of an ex- pert. The puncture in the reeding is so minute and so cleverly annealed with pure gold. and then rereeded with a fine file. that the puncture escapes detection except upon careful examination with sharD eyes.
 Some counterfeiters give the gold coins an acid bath. or sweat them out of a dollar or two of the good metal and then pass them along. The coins are genuine, of course, but the sweating deprives