Show SPECIMENS OF THE QUEER an expert in counterfeit boncy dagui gold aud and silver coin tho the laws of the united states provide penalties not only for making uttering and passing but for having in possession counterfeit money and when a nian man can safely come to you and I 1 flash up I 1 a roll of bills as largo large is as your arm in in one hundreds fifties twenties and so on down produce from one pocket a handful of glittering 0 I 1 yellow boys and from the tha other half a pint of what look liko like silver coins all counterfeit lie must be some ono one quite out of tho the ordinary such a man mail is james H cables of new york an expert in spotting counterfeit money and an of the united states treasury counterfeit detector who has just made one of his periodical periodic al visits to detroit mr cables under a special license from tho the secretary of tho the treasury carries with him about 1700 in the cleverest of spurious paper gold arid d silver diver currency every nickel of which would bo be good with any ordinary person for its equivalent in beer and bologna ho he devotes his time and specimens to enlightening the simple as to the dangers of pinchbeck bills and coin and the necessity of being supplied with a counterfeit detector mr cables is a perfect intelligence office as to all matters relating to the queer and although ho he is tho the avowed enemy of counterfeiters counterfeit ers regards his choicest specimens of criminal art with something of the pride that a connoisseur in prints feels in displaying an artists proof of a rafael or morgan perhaps lie feels a little more joy in exhibiting the almost perfect work of those great masters thomas ballard and charles ulrich than in any other these are hung on the eye line of his gallery and h have a ve every advantage of light and situation ulrich did long time in tho the ohio penitentiary tent iary at columbus and while there made a portrait of governor I 1 Fog foghorn hom allen alien which is now the best extant it was probably not in recognition of talis service that he be was pardoned in 1876 A number of well meaning deanin 0 ladies immediately upon his release established him in the engraving business at columbus but this was too slow for him and in less than d a year ho he was floating 0 a finely executed counterfeit of a 5 b bill ill on a pennsylvania sylv ailia bank the plate plat euras was run down in 1880 but the bills still travel and aro are exceedingly dangerous ballard the other premier is now doing thirty years at the albany penitentiary under sentence imposed in 1875 another excellent abet a jet wart dart in mr cables gallery is the magnificent 1 00 bill made and floated by smith and brockaway in 1880 this would easily pass with any one having small change for it unless he were a real expert one valuable suggestion made by mr cables is that any united states treasury note the number of which is not divisible by four is a counterfeit A fact not generally understood is that the margin of profit in the making of bogus gold coin is very small the rho tens and twenties it is almost impossible to make heavy enough to deceive any one but a pure amateur in 5 pieces mr cables shows show one which with its mixture of silver and fine lettering is only distinguishable from the genuine by a slight unevenness of lettering it will stand the acid test almost perfectly this coin has an intrinsic value of leaving only 8 per cent to cover the cost of manufacture ture and the risk of a term in prison in silver coins there is now an elegant and complete line of counterfeits the best besl of these is a dollar floated since 1879 1870 full weight and true ring but composed of ct babbitt metal thinly coated with silver this costs twenty five fire cents laid down at the factory and is disposed of to I 1 for fifty cents leaving a profit of per cent to cover risk A fifty cent piece of 1872 is also a bad un it is built of antimony tin and babbitt metal is of full size and weight clean cut and handsome but has I 1 I 1 a greasy feel the canadian bills in mr cables cabinet aro are mostly well engraved but are defective in lathe work and paper in the case of our own notes the peculiarity of the paper is one of the most difficult points for the counterfeiter to overcome since april seventeen new counterfeits ter feits of paper money have been discovered detroit free press |