The Counterfeiters of 1877

W. F. DuBois, assayer of the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia, gives the following directions how to detect counterfeit coins. He says: Counterfeiters generally content themselves with the cheap and quiet process of casting from moulds, though sometimes they strike the piece from dies. The mould is made from the genuine coin, and yields a facsimile. They use a type metal, somewhat hard and sonorous by the addition of copper, and the whole being slightly silvered over in a battery, and the gate neatly rubbed out on the edge. Such pieces may pass while fresh and new. They are, however, rather too white and too thick, or if of the right thickness, too light. It is therefore worth the trouble for shopkeepers to have on the counter one or two witnesses easy to be had. First—a balance, which need be no more than a thin strip of wood, eight or ten inches long, neatly poised. Place a good piece on one end and the suspected one on the other, and have a weight of three grains at hand. If the difference is more than that, decline taking the piece. Second—a liquid test: Twenty-four grains of nitrate of silver in crystals; one gramme (say fifteen grains) of nitric acid and one ounce of water. Any druggist can put this up in a small bottle. Remove a little of the surface of the coin with a knife, and then touch the place with a drop from the stopper. If good, there will be no action; if bad, it blackens at once.