The Detroit times., 1911-01-05

ury IepaItmcht IL k&x& 81, V151<fX
So well organized --------Aa0A'
hat it rarely fails To trace even the
most skillfdl offender.
The real dctCctors ol Counterfcits
are found in the banks and counting
houses OF the United states The
average bank teller is SO familiar
with all kinds OF money that coun'
terfeit is seldom in circulation many
weeks before it is detected and TOR
Warded To the Treasury Department.
Coins are more often counterfeited
| than paper money. The reason for
| this is that they more frequently es-
cape detection. In silver. ii is the dol
! lars ana half dollars which are most
| frequently counterfeited. The profit
in such work is practically equal 20
| the difference between the actual
! value of the silver and the face value
Of the coin. In some cases the coins
are made from molds. A dollar, Tor
instance, is placed in plaster-of-
Paris cast. and the mold made from
this. Melted silver is poured into the
mold and the new coin turned out
The objection TO counterfeit coins pro
duced by this process is that their
| lines are not as sharply defined as If
they had been made by the die pro
cess Other counterleiters produce
dies and turn out reasonably accurate
coins. But there is always difference
| in the feel of the coin to the hand
of the experienced money changer
\ counterfeit silver coin often
Weighs more than good one, but II
would be a proftless job TO counter
! felt gold coins on that basis. Gold
coins are supposed TO be literally
worth their weight in gold, and unless
the counterfeiter is able To hide his
work he can make no profit out OF the
business. Sometimes he accomplishes
il by what is known as sweating the
coins He treats them to a process
which takes a small portion or the
metal from them without interfering
With the general appearance But
more often he boreS a hole from rim
TO rim. collects the bOrings and fils
up the hole with a composition as
nearly like gold in weight as possible.
\ little gold at each edge Of the coin
makes the job complete The milling
is restored and the coin appears the
same as ever. except that the ring OF
il is not genuine. In other cases. es-
pecially i'm that OF the larger coins
like the eagle and the double eagle.
the two faces of the coin are sawed
asunder from the middle part and n
disc OF composition metal OF the same
density as gold, is substituted and
the whole thing soldered together
again. \ little gold around the edge
effectively conceals the counterfeit.
There are cases on record where
counterfeit coins are worth more than
the coins which they initiate. In for
mer times platinum, which has about
the same weight as gold. was worth
only one-third as much. The counter
feiter sawed the real coin into three
sections leaving both the diverse and
the reverse sides untouched. The
third part was taken out and platinum
substituted for il. A little milling ma
chine and some skillful soldering did
the rest The counterfeit was almost
beyond detection. even TO It's ring.
Since those days platinum has in
creased tremendously in value, and a
coin counterieted in this way is now
worth more than the genuine.
Counterfeiters often find il more
profitable To initiate Is foreign coins
than native ones. 4 few years ago "A
counterfeit silver dollar came into the
United States from Mexico The coun-
tcrfeiters thought they were realizing
a prof from their business. They
GOT their silver from a Mexican mine,
and when the United States Assay
Office, assayed the metal it was found
10 have large streak of gold in 1t.
II was therefore worth $l.09 as metal.
where it was worth only one hundred
cents as money. The counterfeiters
ma not realized they were losing mon
ey every time they made coin.
IL is not generally known that the
law prohibits Americans from imtat-
ing the money OF any other country,
as well as their own. A year or two
ago Robert Scott of Anderson, In.
diana. was arrested on charge OF
counterfeiting. He was found TO be
making plates for the production OF
Argentine Republic currency When
arrested. he said he had made con
tract with an official of that Republic
to make the plates for $40 900 and he
was entirely ignorant OF the fact that
il was unlawful for him to make plates
TOR other countries.
The United States Government rec
ognizes the fact that the moving pic
ture show may be an incentive to
crime Not long ago il was found that
film was going the rounds of the
;. five-cent theaters showing the whole
process OF counterfeiting. The Secret
Service looked into the matter and
found that the pictures showed every
process Of the counterfeiters' art so
thoroughly as To be an incentive to
tn, practice. They took the matter
mp with the flm-makers and effected
IN agreement whereby no more pic
lures showing the work of the coun.
tcrfeiters shall be shown in the United
states Many states have enacted
legislation to the effect that il shall
be a violation Of the law TO display
ON moving picture screen what IL is
unlawful TO do
Paper money is very hard 10 coun
tcrfeit The engraving is done with
great skill. and no single engraver is
familiar with the whole process of
engraving bank note. The scroll
work is done by machines, and a
change of wheels will produce an en-
tirely different kind of scroll The
original plate is made and all plates
VI from which money is To be printed are
4 made from this by purely mechan-
ical process As long as a given bill
Is kept in circulation the plates from
which l. ~ printed must be made