A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Part 15

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.

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 s.h.i.+llings, of excellent workmans.h.i.+p, 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 PaG.o.da of Arcot. The delinquents have therefore every opportunity and a.s.sistance 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 ma.s.s of the base silver money now in circulation; which, if a conclusion may be drawn from what pa.s.ses 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 quant.i.ty 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 pa.s.sed 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 cla.s.ses 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 .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 quant.i.ty 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 subst.i.tuting in their place a new Coinage of the full standard weight: For it is evident that the Dealers and Tradesmen at present h.o.a.rd 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 quant.i.ties 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 s.h.i.+eld 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 pa.s.s for _two s.h.i.+llings_.

[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 circ.u.mstance 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 quant.i.ties 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.

In the spring season too, the dealers in counterfeit coin begin to make up their orders for the different country towns; and it is supposed, upon good grounds, that there is now scarcely a place of any consequence all over the kingdom where they have not their correspondents; it is also a fact well established, that many of these correspondents come regularly to the _Metropolis_, and also go to Birmingham and the neighbouring towns once or twice a year for the purpose of purchasing base money, where the evil is said to be increasing even more than in London.

It very seldom happens, on account of the great demand, (especially of late years) that the dealers have ever any considerable stock on hand.

The base money is no sooner finished, than it is packed up and sent to customers in town and country; and with such rapidity has it been fabricated, on occasions of pressing emergency, that a single dealer has been known to procure from the coiners who worked for him, from .300 to .500 for country orders, in the course of the week!

The lower ranks among the Irish, and the German Jews, are the chief supporters of the trade of circulating base money in London;--there is said to be scarce an Irish labourer who does not exchange his week's wages for base money; taking a mixture of s.h.i.+llings, sixpences, and copper.

The Jews princ.i.p.ally confine themselves to the coinage and circulation of copper; while the Irish women are the chief utterers and colourers of base silver. A vast number of these low females have acquired the mischievous art of colouring the bad s.h.i.+llings and sixpences, which they purchase from the employers of Jew-boys, who cry _bad s.h.i.+llings_.

It is somewhat singular that among the Jews, although many cases occur where they appear to be coiners of copper money and dealers to a great extent, yet scarce an instance can be adduced of their having any concern in the coinage of base silver: neither are they extensive dealers in any other base money than copper.

The Jews, however, deal largely in foreign coin, counterfeited in this country; having been the chief means by which _Louis d'Ors_, _Half Johannas_, as well as various silver coins, (particularly _Dollars_) made of base metal, have been sent out of this country. It is through the same channel that the Sequins of Turkey have been exported; and also the PaG.o.das of India.[49]

[Footnote 49: See ante, p. 17, 18.]