Fakes and forgeries
Fake, forgery, counterfeit: all these words describe coins and
banknotes made in imitation of genuine money and passed off as
the real thing. As long as there has been money, people have tried
to imitate it illegally and for their own profit.
Coin Forgeries
Forgeries of the earliest
Greek coins were made by covering a base metal core with a layer of
a precious metal called electrum, so that they looked like genuine
coins. The process of covering a less valuable metal (such as lead,
iron or copper) with gold or silver is known as
plating. Throughout history plating has been one of the
most widely used methods of creating a forgery.
Another way of forging coins was by casting. Counterfeiters
would use a genuine coin to make a mould, which they would then
fill with molten metal. When the metal had cooled and hardened, it
would form a cast imitation of the real coin.
Sometimes, forgers would obtain the metal needed to make
forgeries by clipping it from the edge of genuine coins. The melted
silver or gold clippings may be used for plating. Otherwise, the
precious metal might be debased (‘watered down’ with base metals to
make a larger quantity) and used to make forgeries which were
either cast or struck using forged dies. In medieval England, that
process was known as ‘multiplying the coin’ since it could use one
genuine coin to create lots of fakes.
Testing coins
People have always wanted to
test the coins they are given, to avoid accepting worthless
counterfeits. By cutting (or biting!) through the surface of the
coin people could check that the coin was made of solid gold or
silver.
Gold is one of the heaviest metals, so people could test gold
coins by weighing them. If the coin was not made of pure, solid
gold it would not be heavy enough to tip the scales, and people
would know it was a fake. Some balances also had slots to test the
thickness and diameter of the coin.
If a coin has been cast from a mould of a
genuine coin, marks from small air bubbles trapped inside the mould
may be visible on the coin. A cast forgery may also be slightly
smaller and lighter than a genuine coin, since the molten metal
will shrink inside the mould when it cools and solidifies.
Preventing Forgeries
The authorities who issue money officially
have always had to find new ways of keeping ahead of the forgers,
and making money that is hard to forge.
The introduction of machines was important to
this aspect of the production process, as it resulted in coins of
more consistent shape and design. Milled and decorated edges, such
as those on a gold sovereign, were an important development in the
prevention of clipping. Since milling is difficult to imitate
well, it also protects against forgery.
Early banknotes had simple designs in black
and white and were relatively easy for a skilled calligrapher to
forge. Because of this, more detailed designs and images were
included which were more difficult to forge. Some of the earliest
of these were based on the natural world.
Today’s banknotes have very complex, colourful
patterns. Metallic security threads, holograms and luminescent ink
are just some of the devices which are extremely difficult to copy
and so help to prevent forgery.
Counterfeiters do not only imitate money which
is in circulation, however. Coin collecting is a popular hobby, and
many coins are worth much more to collectors than their intrinsic
value. Because of this, it can be very profitable for forgers to
imitate old or rare types of coin. This type of forgery can easily
fool an inexperienced collector, and many are sold over the
Internet or to tourists.
Punishments
Punishments for forgery have always been
harsh. In medieval times, convicted counterfeiters in Germany were
boiled alive in oil, and in Russia they had molte
n lead poured down
their throat. In the seventeenth century, women involved with
forgery could be burned at the stake.
In 1819, George Cruikshank drew this imitation
banknote in protest at the harsh punishments in Britain, when he
saw a woman hanged for passing a forged note. The details in the
cartoon parody the complicated vignettes used as security features
on banknotes, and are much more gruesome. The signature, which
would normally be of the head of the bank, is of ‘Jack Ketch’,
which was a common nickname for the hangman. Although the death
penalty is no longer used in the United Kingdom, forgery and
counterfeiting are still punishable by a prison sentence.
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