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Show J SWEATING GOLD COINS. Electricity I ed la Hob Onr Metal Cur- Irenrjr or It Weight and Value. Short-weight gold coins are becoming annoyingly common in the metal cir- culating medium. Hankers and others I who handle this character of mouey j are frequently coming across light ! J pieces. The discovery some time ago ! of nearly three hundred pounds in light ' pieces tendered in payment of custom duties by a prominent importer has. by directing attention to the subject and exciting scrutiny, led to the detection detec-tion of numerous pieces short in weight, showing that there is in operation oper-ation a systematic Bcheme for robbing the government by stealing metal from coins. The process of robbery which is familiarly known as "sweating" coins j was formerly practiced to a great extent,, ex-tent,, but of late years few instances of it have como to the attention of the ! authorities. It is not highly profitable, at best, under the old methods of extracting ex-tracting tho metal, it did not afford much more than a living. From a careful examination of the ' light pieces it is quite evident that tho thief lias brought into requisition the rapid agency ot electricity. The service serv-ice of an ordinary galvanic battery and j some cheap acid is all that is necessary j to conduct the operation by tho electric process. The scheme is similar to that ! employed in plating with gold by elec- j triclty. The coin is placed in the fluid, and attached to it arc wires from the poles of the battery leading to another piece of metal prepared to receive in the form of plating, the metal to be removed from tho coin. The battery being set in motion, sufficient gold to form a plating is quickly transferred, and as it is removed uniformly from all parts ot tho coin the liability of disfigurement dis-figurement is reduced to a minimum. The only effect is to blur the charac- ters slightly. Tho electric process of stealing from coins is not altogether a new scheme. Tho government officials, a few years ago, captured a band of Italians who rtere operating extensively on this plan. Before the discovery of the use of electricity for plating- "sweating" was done by the use of bags. A buckskin sack, similar to tho sacks used by western miners to gather gold in. was the favorite instrument. After the coins wore w ell shaken in this tho dust was beaten out and the particles collected col-lected by means of quick silver, which rapidly forms amalgamation. When sacks of cotton material are used they are burned and the stealings collected j by reduction in a crucible. |