SPURIOUS COINS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11009, 5 July 1901, Page 5

SPURIOUS COINS.

The manufacture of spurious shillings out of gemiina silver—an offence wholly unknown till very recent times—is still going on actively. The root of the difficulty is tbe great fall in the value of silver bullion. Roughly speaking, an ounce of silver is just now worth only 2s 3£d, but when coined at the Mint it becomes frorth 5s 6d. The fraud (say* an English paper) cannot be detected by- weighing, for the weight is that of a good shilling; neither will ringing the coin on the counter help one, for the silver is genuine, and of the right standard. On the attention being directed, however, to the workmanship' of the base coins, it is seen that the milling of the rim and the edges of tne devices engraved in relief are less sharp than they ought to be. This arises from the fact that instead of being struck ths false shilling is cast in a mou'd. Wh„ roguery shall have enlisted the services of a skilled engraver and die sinker, it is not eisy to see what steps can be taken to abate the evil; unless it be determined to increase the size an<3 weight of our silver coinage to an extent that will reduce the coiner's gains. Unfortunately, this would also dsprive the Mint of an important source of profit. Meanwhile, the Bank of England keeps a watchful eye on parcels of silver—particularly on Victorian shillings of recent date—and a spurious promptly cut in halves, and returned with the laconic note, "Not mada at the Mint."