MYSTERY GOLD.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5252, 25 July 1885, Page 4

MYSTERY GOLD.

All London is alarmed and angry at the depredations of a gang of coiners who have found a means of palming off base coin, which defies the closest scrutiny. An amalgam of tin, copper, and plantinum, electro-plated with gold, produces a sovereign which is identical in weight and ring with the true coin, and defies the nitric acid test and the microscope. Cut into the metal, however, and no gold is found. There is small doubt that the country will soon be flooded with these spurious coins, which it is almost impossible for anyone but a chemical expert to detect. Operations are not confined to sovereigns only, for articles of jewellery are made, with which pawnbrokers have been victimised right and left. It is stated that at Brighton a gang of men cleared £1000 in a day or two, chiefly from the revelations which have been made in the courts. Australian sovereigns have come into great favour as, from their colour, there is more trouble in imitating them. It is unlikely, however, that such clever rascals will not find a means of producings equally good representations of the Colonial coins. It is believed that silver can also be imitated so as to defy the acid test. There will be an excellent chance of a fortune for the enterprising chemist who can discover a compound which will easily and quickly detect this ''mystery" gold. I may be remarked that platinum is by no means a cheap metal, so that the cost of the counterfeits cannot be trifling.