MYSTERY GOLD.

Thames Star, Volume XVII, Issue 5151, 21 July 1885, Page 3

MYSTERY GOLD.

All London is alarmed and angry at the depredation of a gang of coiners who have found a means of palming off base coin, which defios the closest scrutiny. An amalgam of tin, copper, and platinum, electro-plated with gold, produces a sove~ reign which is identical in weight and ring with the true coin, and-defies the nitric acid test and the microscope. Cut into the metal, howeverj and no gold is found. There is small doubt that the country will soon be flooded with these spurious coins, which it is almost impossiHe for anyone but a chemical expert to detect. Operations are not confined to sovereigns only, for articles of jewellery are made, with which pawnbrokers hare been victimised right and left. It is stated that at Brighton a gang of men cleared over £10©0 in a day or two, chiefly from the pawnbrokers. In consequence of the revelations which have been brought out in the Courts, Australian sovereigns hare come into great favor, as from their color there is more trouble in imitating them. It is unlikely, however, that such clever rascals will not find a means of producing equally good representations of the Colonial coins. It is believed that silver can also be imitated so as to defy the acid test. There will be an excellent chance of a fortune for the enterprising chemist who can discover a compound which will easily and quickly detect this " mystery " gold. It may be remarked that platinum is by no means a cheap metal, so that the cost of the counterfeits cannot be trifling.