Part 15 (1/2)
A s.h.i.+lling of this species, which exhibits nearly the appearance of what has been usually called a Birmingham s.h.i.+lling, is intrinsically worth from _twopence to fourpence_; and crowns and half-crowns are in the same proportion. The quant.i.ty 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_ pa.s.ses among the dealers by the denomination of Plated Goods; from the circ.u.mstance of the s.h.i.+llings 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 circ.u.mstance 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 s.h.i.+llings. These are made of copper blanks turned in a lathe, of the exact size of a Birmingham s.h.i.+lling, afterwards silvered over by a particular operation used in colouring metal b.u.t.tons; they are then rubbed over with cream of tartar and blacking, after which they are fit for circulation.
These s.h.i.+llings do not cost the makers above one halfpenny each: they are sold very low to the _Smashers_ or _Utterers_, who pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+llings, 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 Cla.s.s_ 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 _s.h.i.+lling_, 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 b.u.t.tons.
The counterfeit money made in imitation of s.h.i.+llings 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 s.h.i.+lling_, 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 pa.s.s 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 princ.i.p.al 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 quant.i.ties 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 quant.i.ties, 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-s.h.i.+lling 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 pa.s.s them in the course of their business at the full import value.
Farthings are also made in considerable quant.i.ties, 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 embarra.s.sed 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 quant.i.ties 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 pa.s.s them at the full _import_ value.
In this nefarious traffic a number of the lower order of the German Jews in London a.s.sist 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 s.h.i.+llings_, at about 3_d._ each.
Care is always taken that the person who cries bad s.h.i.+llings shall have a companion near him who carries the halfpence, and takes charge of the purchased s.h.i.+llings (which are not cut:) so as to elude the detection of the Officers of the Police, in the event of being searched.
The bad s.h.i.+llings thus purchased, are received in payment by the employers of the boys, for the bad halfpence supplied them, at the rate of four s.h.i.+llings a dozen; and are generally resold to _Smashers_, at a profit of two s.h.i.+llings 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 s.h.i.+llings 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 s.h.i.+llings 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.