gave rise to a very extensive coinage of counterfeit money of the same
species, which was generally executed in a very masterly manner, and
before the fraud was discovered vast quantities were in the hands of
many innocent members of the community. Several detections, however,
having checked the circulation, and silver bullion having fallen
greatly in price, those who were in the habit of dealing in base money
availing themselves of this circumstance, purchased Dollars in great
quantities at about 4_s._. 2_d._ which they instantly stamped and
circulated at 4_s._ 9_d._ and by which species of villainy large sums
of money were suddenly amassed.--One dealer in particular is said to
have made above L.5000 in six weeks. The Laws attaching no punishment
to this unforeseen offence, and the Author representing the
circumstances of the case to the Bank Directors, the whole were called
in, leaving, however, in the hands of the dealers a large surplus of
actual counterfeits,--which appears to have suggested to them the
expedient of finding a market in the British American Colonies and the
United States, where, in general, frauds are less likely to be
detected from the payments being made (particularly in the West India
islands) in dollars put up in bags containing a certain value in each.
However, they were fortunately defeated in this object by the timely
notice given, by the Author of this Treatise, to his Majesty's
Secretary of State, and the American Minister, and through these
respectable mediums commercial people were put upon their guard before
the intended fraud could be carried into effect.]
So dexterous and skilful have Coiners now become, that by mixing a
certain proportion of pure gold with a compound of base metal, they
can fabricate guineas that shall be full weight, and of such perfect
workmanship as to elude a discovery, except by persons of skill; while
the intrinsic value does not exceed thirteen or fourteen shillings,
and in some instances is not more than eight or nine. Of this coinage
considerable quantities were circulated some years since, bearing the
impression of George the Second: and another coinage of counterfeit
guineas of the year 1793, bearing the impression of his present
Majesty, has been for some years in circulation, finished in a
masterly manner, and nearly full weight, although the intrinsic value
is not above eight shillings: half guineas are also in circulation of
the same coinage: and lately a good imitation of the seven-shilling
pieces. But as the fabrication of such coin requires a greater degree
of skill and ingenuity than generally prevails, and also a greater
capital than most coiners are able to command, it is to be hoped it
has gone to no great extent; for amidst all the abuses which have
prevailed of late years, it is unquestionably true, that the guineas
and half-guineas which have been counterfeited in a style to elude
detection, have borne no proportion in point of extent to the coinage
of base _Silver_. Of this latter there are _five_ different kinds at
present counterfeited; and which we shall proceed to enumerate.
_The first of these are denominated_ Flats, from the circumstance of
this species of money being cut out of flatted plates, composed of a
mixture of silver and blanched copper. The proportion of silver runs
from one-fourth to one-third, and in some instances to even one-half:
the metals are mixed by a chemical preparation, and afterwards rolled
by flatting mills, into the thickness of _shillings_, _half-crowns_,
or _crowns_, according to the desire of the parties who bring the
copper and silver, which last is generally stolen plate. It is not
known that there are at present above one or two rolling mills in
London, although there are several in the Country, where all the
dealers and coiners of this species of base money resort, for the
purpose of having these plates prepared; from which, when finished,
_blanks_ or round pieces are cut out, of the sizes of the money meant
to be counterfeited.
The artisans who stamp or coin these blanks into base money are seldom
interested themselves. They generally work as mechanics for the large
dealers who employ a capital in the trade;--and who furnish the
plates, and pay about eight per cent. for the coinage, being at the
rate of one penny for each shilling, and twopence-halfpenny for each
half-crown.
This operation consists first in turning the blanks in a lathe;--then
stamping them, by means of a press, with dies of the exact impression
of the coin intended to be imitated:--they are afterwards rubbed with
sandpaper and cork; then put into aquafortis to bring the silver to
the surface; then rubbed with common salt; then with cream of tartar;
then warmed in a shovel or similar machine before the fire; and last
of all rubbed with _blacking_, to give the money the appearance of
having been in circulation.
All these operations are so quickly performed, that two persons (a man
and his wife for instance,) can completely finish to the nominal
amount of fifty pounds in shillings and half-crowns in two days, by
which they will earn each two guineas a day.
A shilling of this species, which exhibits nearly the appearance of
what has been usually called a Birmingham shilling, is intrinsically
worth from _twopence to fourpence_; and crowns and half-crowns are in
the same proportion. The quantity made of this sort of counterfeit
coinage is very considerable: it requires less ingenuity than any of
the other methods of coining, though at the same time it is the most
expensive, and of course the least profitable to the Dealer; who for
the most part disposes of it to the utterers, vulgarly called
_Smashers_, at from 28_s._ to 40_s._ for a guinea, according to the
quality; while these _Smashers_ generally manage to utter it again to
the full import value.
_The Second Species of counterfeit Silver money_ passes among the
dealers by the denomination of Plated Goods; from the circumstance of
the shillings and half-crowns being made of copper of a reduced size,
and afterwards plated with silver, so extended as to form a rim round
the edge. This coin is afterwards stamped with dies so as to resemble
the real coin; and, from the circumstance of the surface being pure
silver, is not easily discovered except by ringing the money on a
table: but as this species of base money requires a knowledge of
_plating_ as well as a great deal of ingenuity, it is of course
confined to few hands. It is however extremely profitable to those who
carry it on, as it can generally be uttered, without detection, at
its full import value.
_The Third Species of base Silver-money is called_ Plain Goods, and is
totally confined to shillings. These are made of copper blanks turned
in a lathe, of the exact size of a Birmingham shilling, afterwards
silvered over by a particular operation used in colouring metal
buttons; they are then rubbed over with cream of tartar and blacking,
after which they are fit for circulation.
These shillings do not cost the makers above one halfpenny each: they
are sold very low to the _Smashers_ or _Utterers_, who pass them where
they can, at the full nominal value; and when the silver wears off,
which is very soon the case, they are sold to the Jews as bad
shillings, who generally resell them at a small profit to customers,
by whom they are recoloured, and thus soon brought again into
circulation. The profit is immense, owing to the trifling value of the
materials; but the circulation, on account of the danger of discovery,
it is to be hoped is not yet very extensive. It is, however, to be
remarked, that it is a species of coinage not of a long standing.
_The Fourth Class_ of counterfeit silver-money is known by the name of
CASTINGS or CAST GOODS. This species of work requires great skill and
ingenuity, and is therefore confined to few hands; for none but
excellent artists can attempt it, with any prospect of great success.
The process is to melt blanched copper, and to cast it in moulds,
having the impression, and being of the size of a _crown_, a
_half-crown_, a _shilling_, or a _sixpence_, as the case may be; after
being removed from the moulds, the money thus formed is cleaned off,
and afterwards neatly silvered over by an operation similar to that
which takes place in the manufacture of buttons.
The counterfeit money made in imitation of shillings by this process,
is generally cast so as to have a _crooked appearance_; and the
deception is so admirable, that although intrinsically not worth _one
halfpenny_, by exhibiting the appearance of a _thick crooked
shilling_, they enter into circulation without suspicion, and are
seldom refused while the surface exhibits no part of the copper; and
even after this the itinerant Jews will purchase them at threepence
each though six times their intrinsic value, well knowing that they
can again be recoloured at the expence of half a farthing, so as to
pass without difficulty for their nominal value of twelve pence.--A
vast number of the sixpences now in circulation is of this species of
coinage.
The profit in every view, whether to the original maker, or to the
subsequent purchasers (after having lost their colour,) is _immense_.
In fabricating Cast Money, the workmen are always more secure than
where presses and dies are used; because upon the least alarm, and
before any officer of justice can have admission, the counterfeits are
thrown into the crucible; the moulds are destroyed; and nothing is to
be found that can convict, or even criminate the offender: on this
account the present makers of cast money have reigned long, and were
they careful and frugal, they might have become extremely rich; but
prudence rarely falls to the lot of men who live by acts of
criminality.
The _Fifth and last Species_ of base coin made in imitation of
silver-money of the realm is called Figs or Fig Things. It is a very
inferior sort of counterfeit money, of which composition, however, a
great part of the sixpences now in circulation are made. The
proportion of silver is not, generally speaking, of the value of one
farthing in half a crown; although there are certainly some
exceptions, as counterfeit sixpences have been lately discovered, some
with a mixture, and some wholly silver; but even these did not yield
the makers less than from 50 to 80 per cent. while the profit on the
former is not less than from five hundred to one thousand per cent.
and sometimes more.
It is impossible to estimate the amount of this base money which has
entered into the circulation of the Country during the last twenty
years; but it must be very great, since one of the principal Coiners
of stamped money, who some time since left off business, and made some
important discoveries, acknowledged to the Author, that he had coined
to the extent of _two hundred thousand pounds_ sterling in counterfeit
_half-crowns_, and other base silver money, in a period of seven
years. This is the less surprising, as two persons can stamp and
finish to the amount of from 200_l._ to 300_l._ a week.[44]
[Footnote 44: A _Liquid Test_ has been discovered by Mr. ALSTON, an
eminent Manufacturer, in Birmingham, of great worth and
respectability, which cannot fail to be of the greatest use in
detecting every species of counterfeit Gold and Silver money, whether
_plated_ or _washed_. This discovery is mentioned with pleasure by the
Author, as it is likely to be productive of much benefit to the
Public, in protecting the fair dealers against the frauds daily
practised upon them, in the circulation of base money.--The discovery
is instantaneous by a single touch, and the expence of the Liquid and
Apparatus is trifling.]
Of the Copper Money made in imitation of the current coin of the
realm, there are many different sorts sold at various prices,
according to the size and weight; but in general they may be divided
into two kinds, namely, the stamped and the plain halfpence, of both
which kind immense quantities have been made in London; and also in
Birmingham, Wedgbury, Bilston, and Wolverhampton, &c.[45]
[Footnote 45: A species of counterfeit halfpence made _wholly of
lead_, has been circulated in considerable quantities, coloured in
such a manner as even to deceive the best judges. They are generally
of the Reign of George II. and have the exact appearance of old Mint
halfpence.]
The plain halfpence are generally made at Birmingham; and from their
thickness, afford a wonderful deception. They are sold, however, by
the coiners to the large dealers at about a farthing each, or 100 per
cent. profit in the tale or aggregate number. These dealers are not
the _utterers_; but sell them again by retail in _pieces_, or
_five-shilling papers_, at the rate of from 28_s._ to 31_s._ for a
guinea; not only to the Smashers, but also to persons in different
trades, as well in the Metropolis as in the Country Towns, who pass
them in the course of their business at the full import value.
Farthings are also made in considerable quantities, chiefly in London,
but so very thin that the profit upon this species of coinage is much
greater than on the halfpence, though these counterfeits are not now,
as formerly, made of base metal. The copper of which they are made is
generally pure. The advantage lies in the weight alone, where the
_coiners_, _sellers_, and _utterers_, do not obtain less than 200 per
cent. A well known coiner has been said to finish from sixty to eighty
pounds sterling a week. Of halfpence, two or three persons can stamp
and finish to the nominal amount of at least two hundred pounds in six
days.
When it is considered that there are seldom less than between forty
and fifty coinages or private mints, almost constantly employed in
London and in different country towns; in stamping and fabricating
base silver and copper money, the evil may justly be said to have
arrived at an enormous height. It is indeed true that these people
have been a good deal interrupted and embarrassed from time to time,
by detections and convictions; but while the laws are so inapplicable
to the new tricks and devices they have resorted to, these convictions
are only _a drop in the bucket_: while such encouragements are held
out the execution of one rogue only makes room for another to take up
his customers; and indeed as the offence of selling is only a
misdemeanor it is no unusual thing for the wife and family of a
culprit, or convicted _seller_ of _base money_ to carry on the
business, and to support him luxuriously in Newgate, until the
expiration of the _year_ and _day's_ imprisonment, which is generally
the punishment inflicted for this species of offence.
It has been already stated [_page_ 16, &c.] that trading in base money
has now become as regular and systematic as any fair branch of
trade.--
Certain it is, that immense quantities have been regularly sent from
London to the Camps during the summer season; and to persons at the
sea-ports and manufacturing towns, who again sell in retail to the
different tradesmen and others who pass them at the full _import_
value.
In this nefarious traffic a number of the lower order of the German
Jews in London assist the dealers in an eminent degree, particularly
in the circulation of bad halfpence.
It has not been an unusual thing for several of these dealers to hold
a kind of market every morning, where from forty to fifty of these
German Jew boys are regularly supplied with counterfeit halfpence;
which they dispose of in the course of the day in different streets
and lanes of the Metropolis, for _bad shillings_, at about 3_d._ each.
Care is always taken that the person who cries bad shillings shall
have a companion near him who carries the halfpence, and takes charge
of the purchased shillings (which are not cut:) so as to elude the
detection of the Officers of the Police, in the event of being
searched.
The bad shillings thus purchased, are received in payment by the
employers of the boys, for the bad halfpence supplied them, at the
rate of four shillings a dozen; and are generally resold to
_Smashers_, at a profit of two shillings a dozen; who speedily
re-colour them, and introduce them again into circulation, at their
full nominal value.
The boys will generally clear from five to seven shillings a day, by
this fraudulent business; which they almost uniformly spend, during
the evening, in riot and debauchery; returning pennyless in the
morning to their old trade.
Thus it is that the frauds upon the Public multiply beyond all
possible conception, while the tradesman, who, unwarily at least if
not improperly, sells his counterfeit shillings to Jew boys at
threepence each, little suspects that it is for the purpose of being
returned upon him again at the rate of twelve-pence; or 300 per cent.
profit to the purchasers and utterers.
But these are not the only criminal devices to which the coiners and
dealers, as well as the utterers of base money, have had recourse, for
answering their iniquitous purposes.
Previous to the Act of the 37 Geo. 3. cap. 126, counterfeit French
crowns, half-crowns, and shillings, of excellent workmanship, were
introduced with a view to elude the punishment of the then deficient
Laws relative to Foreign Coin.
Fraudulent die-sinkers are to be found both in the Metropolis and in
Birmingham, who are excellent artists; able and willing to copy the
exact similitude of any coin, from the British guinea to the sequin of
Turkey, or to the Star Pagoda of Arcot. The delinquents have therefore
every opportunity and assistance they can wish for; while their
accurate knowledge of the deficiency of the laws, (particularly
relative to British Coin) and where the point of danger lies, joined
to the extreme difficulty of detection, operates as a great
encouragement to this species of treason, felony, and fraud; and
affords the most forcible reason why these pests of society still
continue to afflict the honest part of the community.
An opinion prevails, founded on information obtained through the
medium of the most intelligent of these coiners and dealers, that of
the counterfeit money now in circulation, not above one third part is
of the species of _Flats_ or _composition money_; which has been
mentioned as the most intrinsically valuable of counterfeit silver,
and contains from one fourth to one third silver; the remainder being
blanched copper.--The other two thirds of the counterfeit money being
_cast_ or _washed_, and intrinsically worth little or nothing, the
imposition upon the public is obvious. Taking the whole upon an
average, the amount of the injury may be fairly calculated at within
ten per cent. of a total loss upon the mass of the base silver money
now in circulation; which, if a conclusion may be drawn from what
passes under the review of any person who has occasion to receive
silver in exchange, must considerably exceed _one million sterling_!
To this we have the miserable prospect of an accession every year,
until some effectual steps shall be taken to remedy the evil.
Of the Copper Coinage, the quantity of counterfeits at one time in
circulation might be truly said to equal three fourth parts of the
whole, and nothing is more certain than that a very great proportion
of the actual counterfeits passed as Mint halfpence, from their size
and appearance, although they yielded the coiners a large profit.
Even at present the state both of the silver and copper coinage of
this kingdom (the copper pence only excepted) deserves very particular
attention, for at no time can any person minutely examine either the
one coin or the other, which may come into his possession, without
finding a considerable proportion counterfeit.
Until, therefore, a new coinage of halfpence and farthings takes place
upon the excellent plan adopted by Government, with respect to the
pence now partially in circulation, what must be the situation of the
retail dealers, the brewers, distillers, and many other classes of
industrious traders, who in the course of their business, are
compelled to receive depreciated counterfeit money?[46]
[Footnote 46: It is a curious fact, that although the number of Pence
which have been supplied by that admirable Artist, Mr. BOULTON, of
Birmingham, and which have been actually circulated amounts to Forty
Million of Pieces, making L.166,666. 12_s._ 4_d._ sterling, and which
is equal to 4_d._ for every inhabitant in this Island, according to
the largest computation: yet the quantity of halfpence (chiefly
counterfeits) which are found in actual circulation, are at least in
the proportion of forty to one. This must ever be the case until some
expedient, such as is hereafter recommended, shall be adopted for
calling them in, and substituting in their place a new Coinage of the
full standard weight: For it is evident that the Dealers and Tradesmen
at present hoard up the penny pieces, and only circulate the
counterfeit halfpence which they receive; the nuisance therefore
remains, and the coiners are thus encouraged to continue their
nefarious practices.]
The burden is not only grievous beyond expression, to those who have
no alternative but to take such base money in payment; but extends
indirectly to _the Poor_: in as much as the diminished value of such
coin, arising from its reduced or base quality taken in connection
with the quantities thrown into circulation, tends to enhance the
price of the first articles of necessity.
The labourer, the handicraftsman, and the working manufacturer, being
generally paid their weekly wages, partly in copper money of
depreciated value;--it is obvious that they must obtain less than they
would otherwise receive, were the coin of a higher standard; for the
retail dealers who furnish the poor with food, must shield themselves,
at least in part, against the unavoidable losses arising from base
money; by advancing the prices of their various commodities.
Nor are such advances made upon a principle which cannot be defended;
since it is evident that the relative value _even of the old copper
coin of the Mint_ to gold or silver, is nearly _twice its intrinsic
value_; and while such copper money cannot be paid into the receipt of
his Majesty's Exchequer, or received in payment by the officers of the
revenue, the burden and loss of a diminished coin fall entirely upon
the traders, (who are compelled to receive such money,) and upon the
labourers and mechanics through whose medium it is chiefly circulated.
While the disproportion thus stated between the denominative value of
copper and silver money is so very great, it is evident that the legal
coinage of copper must produce an immense profit; as _one pound_ of
copper estimated at 15 _pence_[47] will make as many halfpence, of the
legal coinage, as pass for _two shillings_.
[Footnote 47: A few years ago sheet-copper was as low as 11-1/2_d._ a
pound, and will probably be again at the same price on the return of
Peace. Indeed it has been even lower, although it has recently very
much advanced in price.]
This fact plainly shews the vast temptation which is held out to those
who carry on the counterfeit coinage, where the profit from the coiner
to the dealers, and from these dealers to the utterers, at the full
denominative value, must be in many instances from two to three
hundred per cent. When to this circumstance is added the security
which the deficiencies in the present laws hold out, the whole
operates as a kind of bounty to these fraudulent people, who cannot
resist the prosecution of a trade where the profit is so immense, and
where a coinage equally _pure and heavy_ as the old mint standard
would even be extremely productive.[48]
[Footnote 48: This observation does not apply to Mr. Boulton's New
Copper Coinage; for although some feeble attempts have been made to
counterfeit it, these can never go to a great extent, from its not
being a sufficient object of profit; besides the fraud is easily
detected, since each penny weighs an exact ounce: of course the
halfpence should weigh half an ounce, and the farthings one quarter of
an ounce, when these last two denominations are brought into
circulation; as it is expected they will be.]
In every view the evil at present arising from base money of every
denomination appears to be of the greatest magnitude--while its extent
will scarce be credited by any but those who have turned their
attention very minutely to the subject.
The trade of dealing in counterfeit coin acquires its greatest vigour
towards the end of March; for then the Lotteries are over, when
_Swindlers_, _Gamblers_, _Pretended Dealers in Horses_, _Travellers
with EO Tables_, and _Hawkers_ and _Pedlars_ go into the country,
carrying with them considerable quantities of base silver and copper
money; by which they are enabled, in a great degree, to extend the
circulation, by cheating and defrauding ignorant country people.