Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-23
COIN oUEEREp IN MAKING
Devices Resorted 20 by counterfeiters
10 Produce Marketable
Article.

Non IN tne east IN comparison WIN abhc
total amount Of paper money which leaves
the gray walls of this old building" said
an Official Of the Treasury department to
Washington star reporter. there are,
nevertheless, a great many Of these coins
current, and they are, counterfeited, to-
gether with our silver coins, more than
the average person would suppose p
II 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 public.
Tho three principal treasury tests of coins
are; First the weight: second, the diam
eter, and, third. the thickness. The coun-
terfeiter who succeeds In making his dies
and the spurious metal alloy which will
meet all Of these tests IL indeed smart
one. With some alloys he may be able 10
work out the weight, but the diameter OF
the coin would reveal that 1t was coun-
torfeit product, or even a very slight in
crease in the thickness Of the Hlictly-made
article would show at once It's counterfeit
origin. tf&l
The superior grade Of coin counterfeits
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-finished sur
faces, with the lettering and milling finely
delineated- The reading-the little raised
and indented marks on the edges OF the
ooin--is not as sharp and clear as the
reading on the genuine coins. While many
Of the finer counterfeits are of full weight,
they are usually little short of weight.
Some OF these gold coin coupterfeits are
80 well made and are of such fine ap-
pearance that they pass current until they
reach the hands of the coin experts In
this building.
THE standard gold used by the mint Is
800 fine. or H.19 carats. The most deceptive
gold oounterfeits are made OF a lower
grade gold, OF from 600 to 800 fine, and as
low as 400 1ne in the more inferior grades
of counterfeits. The most deceptive gold
counterfelts are those which are manu-
featured from an alloy of gold, copper and
silver. Platinum is a metal which Is used
by the expert counterfeiter to gain the
necessary weight TO his output and when
these platinum counterfeits are struck of
IN good dies, and then very heavily gold
plated, they prove to be very dangerous
counterfelts when first showed by the ac-
completes OF the man who generally does
the spurious minting he usually keeping out
of sight, for he is too valuable a man IN
the trade to be 'nabbed in the passing
stunt. The gold plating wears on In due
time and the base metal is revealed.
"A comparison of the piece with the
genuine of the same coinage and date. to-
gether with critical inspection of the
minting. general appearance, die impress,
ring, size and weight win be found ac-
curate tests when in doubt as to whether
a coin IL genuine or spurious The familiar
acid test may also be applied.
Counterfeit coins made in molds are the
more common and the more easily detected.
The mold counterfeit usually applies to
silver coins. A number of years ago there
were many counterfeits of silver coins
made of lead and type metal. but these
have largely passed because of their easy
detection both as to sight and feeling, 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 INDUCED in by foreigners, who pass
their bad products upon their own country
men when the latter are green as to genu-
Inc coin.
The sharp, clear cut appearance of the
genuine coin is absent, the milling and let
terlng are dim, while the reading is usually
very faint and poorly delineated. Never
theless, some pretty fair silver counterfeit
coins are turned out of fnolds, but the
weight is generally short when an attempt
Is made to bring them within the specified
thickness and diameter.
THAT there is considerable counterfeitins
In coins still attempted is shown by the
fact that our secret service officers cap
tured 5000 in spurious gold coins and
$4,000 in silver coins during the last year
The more expert silver coin counterfelterl
use for their product of the larger silver
coins an alloy of about two-thirds anthony
and one-third lead. and when they. heavily
plate these productions they get out de
ceptlve coin which has pretty fair ring
The good old standby test Of the re-
quired weight gives these coins away IL
the hands of one used to handling money
though IN some sections of the country
they get into circulation easily. The dol
lar piece makes the most dangerous OF thii
class OF counterfeits.
Some of the molds are made Of metal
but most OF them are made Of plaster o
paris. The IS and the so gold pieces ar,
the most favored by the counterfeiter, tn,
$40 gold piece being very hard to reproduct
30 as to battle detection. as the die of thi
coin is the most beautiful and the hardes
TO initiate OF our gold coins. The predomi
mating silver pieces OF counterfeit produc
ton are the 80 and Scent pieces and tn
standard silver dollar. The first two piece
Of subsidiary coin are the most cash,
showed
Some counterfeiters give the gold coin
an acid bath, or sweat them out of a dol
lar or two OF the good metal and then pas
them along. The coins are genuine, o
course. but the sweating deprives them o
the required weight These 'sweated' coin
pass in circulation from hand TO hand unit
they reach the banks or the subtreasuries
when they are at once caught up by tn
coin counters and their careers come to
sudden and abrupt close as coins of tn
realm.
"A laborious task OF extracting the in
teriors OF gold coins is called the 'fllin
process, consisting OF cutting the coins |
two, OF partially through at the edges. an
extracting as much of the interior as pos
sible. replacing the good sold with an In
fertor but weighty metal and brazing tn
edges together This Job has to be don
with exceeding eleverness to defy deteC
ton, but when done well a lot Of gold ca
thus be obtained"
CuR