The daily Panhandle. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 1906-19??, 1907-08-27
COINS THAT ARE BASE
Metals and Methods Used In
Making Counterfeits.
HOW THEY MAY BE DETECTED

Spurious Coirs Cannot Stand The
Three Tests Of Weight. Diameter and
rhiekness---ooId Pieces That Ars
sweat,d. Plugged or Filled.
The most dangerous counterfeits are
struck from die and are usually iml.
tatIons NJ gold coins. Molds of vari
Gus kinds nre extensively used. but
counterfeits so madc are inferior to
those made with die.
In counterfeHs made from n mold
lettering milling and reeding are usu.
ally poor md weight defective The
coins lack the sharp and clear cut mp
pentauce of genuine coin. Most coun-
terfet silver coins In circulation are
made from molds. as 1t Is an lnexpen.
sive form Of counterfciting, Some fair
specimens have been produced In this
way, hut usually they are much lighter
than the genuine and II of required
weight differ IN diameter or thickness.
Various metals are used by counter
fei'ers. principally platinum, silver,
copper. brass, antimony. aluminium.
zinc. type metal. lead and their nu.
mcrous compositions.
Among the most dangerous counter.
fets Of gold cotn are those Of com.
position Of gold, silver and copper.
They are low grade gold. and the
ncid test shows they lack the tineness
OF standard gold used by the United
States mint, which n 9oo sne, or ALTO
carats These counterfcits average
from 400 10 500 fine. Platinum coun.
tcrfcits arc dangerous. as the metal
used gives required weight and they
nre heavily gold plated. when they
have been In circulation for time the
plating wears or, especially on the
edges.
The most dangerous counterfeit Of
silver coin is made of composition et
antimony md lead. the former metal
predominating, These countcrfeits are
~ the dollar, have a nne appearance.
are heavily silver plated. with fair
ring, and some are only slightly below
the standard weight.
Some pieces among the smaller coins
are made Of brass, struck from a die,
and when heavily plated are fair imi.
tations. They lack required weight
except in few instances, Counterfeits
Of type metal, lead and other compost.
tons are much lighter than genuine
Those having required weight are
much too thick
Genuine coins Of all kinds, for the
sake Of gain. are tnmpercd with in va.
rious ways. These operations are con.
nncd almost exclusively to gold coins
which are sweated, plugged and Oiled
Sweating Is removing n portion OF
the gold from surface ~ coin. The
process does not interfere with the
ring. and "a the portion removed is gen
orally slight the coin is left with
very fair appearance. weight only re-
ing defective. The principal methods
W sweating are the acid bath. fling
the edges or recdinS the operator And
ing n profit In the small quantities OF
gold removed from numerous pieces.
The average reduction in value OF
coins subjected 10 these processes is
from one.twentieth 20 one-,enth.
rluggin; is done by boring holes In
the CON, extracting ;he gold and filling
the cavity with a cheaper material. The
larger coins-douhc eagles and eagles
twenty and ten dollar pleces-are
used tnr this purpose, The small
surface ~ the plugging material,
where IL shows on the edge ~ the coin
is covered with gold and the r~edlns
retoucLcd with file or machine.
The average loss In value 20 coins
treated IN this way is from one-eighth
20 onc-siSth. Coins ~ this kind are
very dangerous. as they are perfect
IN appearance. only tho edges having
been tempered with
Filling is most commonly done hy
saving the coin through from the edge
or reedinS, removing the interior por-
ton md replacing L with cheap met
al. Coins ~ all denominations from
quarter eagle 20 double eagle are sub
jected 70 this p-ocess. When platinum