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 with 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; requires less ingenuity than any of the other

methods

methods of coining, though at the same time it is the most expensive, and of course the least profita. ble to the dealer; who for the most part disposes of it to the utterers, vulgarly called smashers, at from 28s. to 40s. 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

F

Jews

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, 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 shil, lings 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 maker 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

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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 200l. to 300l. a week.

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.

The plain halfpence are generally made at Birmingham; and from their thicknesss 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 28s. to 31s. 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 as 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 300 per cent. A well known coiner has been said

to