Bisbee daily review., 1907-09-03
COUNTERFEIT COIN
 OFTEN DANGEROUS
Various Metals Used in Making limitations of Real Ameri-
 can Money.

but commercials so made are inferior
 to those made with a die.
 In commercials made from mold lettering. milling and reeding are usually poor, weight very defective; the coins lack the sharp and clear cut appearance of genuine coin. Most counterfeit silver coins in circulation are made from mnldS as # is an in expensive form of cOuntertating. Some fair specimens have been pro duced in this way. but usually they are much lighter than the genuine, and if of required weight differ in di- ameter or thickness, says the Counter felt DetectOr. Various moIds are used by counter feiters, principally pltinum, silver, copper, brass, antimoOny, aluminium, zine. type metal. lead and their num- erOus compositions.
 Among the most dangerous counter feits of gold coin are those of a composition of gold. silver and cop per. They are a lOwgrade gold, and the acid test shows they lack the fine
 ness of standard gold used by the United States Mint, which is 900 fine, or 2lI9 caraJs. These commercials
 average from 400 10 .SUO fine. -Plau- mum couuterfeits are dangerous, as ] the metal used gives required weight,
 and they are heavily gold plated.
 When they have been in circulation
 for a time the plating wears off, es-
 peciaIly on the edges.
 The most dangerous counterfeit Ot
 coin is made of a composition of anti
 mony and lead, the former metal pre- dominating. These cOunUerteits are of the dollar, have a fine appearance,
 are heavily silverplated, with fair | rims; some are only slightly below . the standard weight.
 l Some pieces among the smaller coins are made of brass, struck from
 a die, and when heavily plated are
 fair mutations They lack required i weight, except in a few instances. ] COunteTfeiJs of type metal, lead and | other compositions are much lighter | than genuine; those having required
 weight are much too thick.
 1 Genuine coins of all kinds for the sake of gain are tempered with in va rious ways. These operations are
 confined almost exclusively to gold
 CCins,which are sweated, plugged and filled
 | Sweating is removing a portion of [ i process does not interfere with the 1 ring. and as the portion removed is ! generally slight the coin is left with
 a very fair appearance, weight only
 being defective. The principal meth
 ods Ot sweating are the acid bath, fill
 ing the edges or Teeding, the opera
 tor finding a profit in the small quan-
 titles of gold removed from numerous
 pieces. The average reduction in
 value of coins subjected to these pro
 cesses is from One-twentieth to one
 tenth.
 Plugging is done by boring holes in
 the coin, extracting the gold and fill i ing the cavity with a cheaper mate i rial The larger coins-dOuble eagles
 and eagles (s20 and s1O pteces)-are
 used for this purpose. Holes are | bOred> into the coin from the edge
 or reeding,. the gold extracted and the
 cavity filled with a base metal. The
 small surface of the plugging mate rial, where it is shown on the edge
 of the coin, covered with gold and reeding retouched with a file or ma chine The average loss in value to
 coins treated in this way Is from one
 eight to one-sixth. Coins Of this
 
 perfect in appearance, the edges only
 having been tempered with.
 Filling is most commonly done by saving the coin through from the
 edge or reeding, removing the inte- rinr nortinn and -ranlanin1 if u,ith a cheap metal. Coins of all denomina- tions from quarter eagles to double
 eagles are subject to this process. When platinum is used to replace the gold extracted the coin has the same weight as genuine. By this process coins lose four-fifths of their value,
 as the original surfaces are left only of paper thichkness. Another method of filling is saving
 the coin partly in two, from edge to . reeding, on one side, leaving thin and thick portion The thin side of the coin is turned back and the gold extracted from center of thicker DOT . tion. The cavity is filled with base metal and sides pressed back into original position and soldeTed or brazed together. It is difficult to give average loss to coins treated in this manner, as hardly any two seem ? to have the same amount of gold talk en from them.
 For detecting counterfeit coin com ; pare impress, size, weight, ring and , general appearance with the genuine
 coin of same period and coinage. The f three tests of weight, diameter and , thickness should be applied, for 1t is
 almost impossible for the counterfeit to comply with these three tests with 1 out using genuine metal.
 T I