COUNTERFEITING U.S. COINS 1834 TO 1845
An excerpt from Bad Metal: Copper and Nickel Circulating Contemporary Counterfeit United States Coins
No other period in U.S. history, particularly during panics and depressions, witnessed such an alarming scarcity of U.S. coins in circulation only to be countered by an equally dramatic, seemingly unstoppable force counterfeiting U.S. coins. Hard currency was in great demand, and yet there was almost none of it to come by due to hoarding and exportation. As a result, counterfeit coins helped fill this coinage gap. Ultimately, every denomination the U.S. Mints produced, including Feuchtwanger cents and hard times tokens, was targeted by counterfeiters over the course of this relatively short period. This was truly the era of free money. The seeds of the counterfeit U.S. coin epidemic during the Panic of 1837 were already planted a few years earlier as a result of the Coinage Act of 1834 and its coinage ratio adjustment. Before 1834 little gold coinage was in circulation due to the adverse metallic ratio, and such accounts of counterfeiting gold coins were almost nonexistent. Suddenly, with the coinage ratio adjustment, gold coins flooded back into circulation and counterfeiters began exploiting this situation. Half eagles were the primary target, with both hand-made and transfer die pieces produced. In contrast, quarter eagle and eagle counterfeits were generally spared, with few documented as being made during the 1830s. In contrast, silver coins began to be exported to Canada, Mexico and Europe, causing a gradual scarcity of these coins in domestic circulation. The international export of U.S. silver coinage, resulting from the same Coinage Act of 1834, influenced some Canadian citizens, and possibly people in Mexico and Europe (although no such evidence exists of this), to engage in counterfeiting U.S. coinage. Just a couple weeks before Moore wrote his May 12, 1835 letter to Woodbury, one of the earliest accounts of counterfeit U.S. coins being made in Canada, and subsequently being exported to the U.S., was reported in The Evening Post dated April 28, 1835. As such, this started the trend of cross-border counterfeiting which persisted throughout the remainder of the 19th century. Counterfeit-Coin–we are informed that large quantities of counterf eit half dollars and ten cent pieces are in circulation in this city and vicinity. They are imitations of American coins and very di cult to detect. tis said they area compound of tin, glass, and lead, and are equal in sound and weight with the genuine. Out information says they are supposed to be Canadian manufacture, and well got up to deceive the best judges. Only a handful of additional reports of Canadians counterfeiting U.S. silver coinage were located during the Panic of 1837. While this problem was not widespread, many counterfeiting operations purposely began to set up on the border with Canada. This was a strategic location for counterfeiters who could cross into Canada where U.S. jurisdictional law enforcement could not pursue them on the criminal charge of counterfeiting. One report in the BaltimoreSun from December 27, 1842 of Canadians involved in the counterfeit U.S. coin trade is particularly intriguing. It tells of the arrest of a woman passing counterfeit halves, quarters and dimes, and the arrest of the counterfeiter in Quebec. While the details of this report are vague, and little additional specific information could be found, it is likely these were struck counterfeits from hand-made dies all of the Bust type. This is surmised since both the quarter and half dollar had to be the Bust type given the date reported on the pieces. In addition, it would not be a stretch to include the 1838-dated dime into the Bust design group of these quarters and half dollars, even though Bust dimes stopped being minted in 1837. Canadian counterfeiters, and the public there at large, were likely naïve about U.S. coinage and their corresponding minting dates and designs. Therefore, counterfeiters there could create imitation counterfeit U.S. coins, intentionally or otherwise, and circulate them at will among the naïve Canadian public with little expectation of recourse, even though the American dimes and quarters were not technically legal tender in Canada. If this idea about the Bust design of the dime is correct this could identify the origin of the 1838 Bust dime counterfeits. Arrests–Awoman has been arrested in Quebec, Canada, for passing counterfeit United States half dollars and quarters, of 1837, and dim es of 1838. The supposed manufacturer has also been arrested and committed. It is also worth noting that it was not just Canadians counterfeiting U.S. coinage, but American’s were also engaged in counterfeiting Canadian coinage too, at least to a limited extent. A report from the BaltimoreSun dated August 30, 1844 tells of such an instance. Counterfeit Copper Coin–A one armed boy, named Samuel Betty, who hails from Toronto, Upper Canada, was arrested yesterday byoc er Mil liken, with several large boxes of counterfeit Canadian coppers, supposed to have been manufactured somewhere in New Jersey, for the Canada market. He was committed for the present, until the Canadian authorities receive information of the fact. With the onset of the Panic of 1837, U.S. coin counterfeiting did not suddenly take-o immediately, but rather developed and grew over time. To better understand the scope and scale of this counterfeit coin epidemic during the Panic of 1837 requires an introductory grasp of the evolving methods of coinage production technology at the Philadelphia Mint. This in turn paralleled how counterfeit coins were produced at this time. In addition, the longevity of the Panic was stimulated by several contributing factors, resulting in the unrivaled and explosive quantity, intensity and diversity of U.S. coin counterfeiting, especially silver denominations. These factors included, but were not limited to, the removal of Latin American coins from domestic circulation, devaluation of chartered bank notes, a surge in token manufacturing, as well as the invention and utilization of a new alloy, German silver.