Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1877 — Counterfeit Coin. [ARTICLE]

Counterfeit Coin.

"When silver first came into circulation very little care was taken by those who received the coins to examine* them closely, every person being eager to obtain, some of the “ hard money, ,r> This reckless course gave encouxEusment to counterfeiters, who soon floocrea the country with base coin, and so well executed have been the imitations that even the usual test of “ ringing” the money fails to detect its falseness. Even the close scrutiny of the eye is not always sure to be correct, and car conductors, often to the amusement of passengers, examine all silver coins with great care before making change. At saloons and restaurants the cashiers are often delayed in consequence of doubt as to the genuineness of the larger pieces of money offered to them in payment of edibles. Good coin is often rejected on account of the imperfect workmanship arising from the hasty demand made upon the mints at the first resumption of silver circulation. This imperfection has been of great advantage to the counterfeiters, who have devoted themselves principally to the making of halves and quarters, the counterfeiting"©! dimes apparently not proving lucrative enough. Several specimens of well-ex-ecuted half-dollars have been seen at the Sub-Treasury in this city, and were very likely to deceive except in the weight, the imitations being about fifty grains too light. The false coins which have aprveared at the Sub-Treasury were made from a mixture of antimony, lead and zinc, and looked ymy like" sliver. The imitations were, however, generally dated back so as to look like old coin, it not being easy to secure the silver sheen. Sweating the good coin has also been adopted by persons who wish to obtain a fraudulent Irving. Genuine silver money has been detected at the Sub-Treasury with the edges beveled off, the parings, which appear to have been made by machinery, being doubtless melted down and sold. Thu work, however, is not

likely to be carried on to any very grftat extent, as the silver of even the genuine coin is not fine enough to make the practice very lucrative. To obtain any very large amount of profit by this process, some capital will be required, and it is not believed by the authorities that "clippers ” can afford to have the money lying Idle long enough to pay them for the work. When the clipping is done upon gold coin every grain* of dust is of value, out such is not the case with the present silver coin It is reported thsjt a number of debased gold coins have been detected. The process of debasing this class of coin is not new. The plan adopted is to split the coin, hollow out the inside and fill the space with platinum. This gives the requisite weight to the coin, but reduces its value more than one-half. This cheat can only be detected by the eye, and not even then except by experts. Borne of the American com brought from Europe, our reporter was informed, had thus been tampered with. The examination of the milled edges led to the detection of the fraud, as the work of remilling cannot be to neatly done by the counterfeiter as at the mint. Another plan which has lieen detected is to drill the gold coin from edge to edge, in several places, and fill the holes with copper wire; but this cheat can easily be found out by weighing the pieces of money, as copper is lighter than gold. The work is also not so well performed as by the platinum operators, and the examination of the milled edges will almost be sure to lead to detection. — Chicago Journal.