Counterfeiting

B10　—　Cross-cutting theme

Counterfeits are born right on the heels of the genuine article.

Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama　／　Reading time (main text): About 10 min (4,806 characters of text at 500 chars/min; exercises and readings not included)　／　Beyond the text: 11 exercises · 5 coins · 20 readings · 1 references

What this course teaches you to do

• You can explain why anti-forgery devices aim at recognisability rather than at looks.
• Looking at a real coin, you can say that the milled edge is an instrument of inspection, not an ornament.
• You can compare a state's own debasement with private forgery on the same measure.
• You can point out what is missing from the phrase "forgery is a matter for criminals."
• Can explain the three safeguards of machine-struck coins (perfect circle, beaded border, and edge markings) as anti-counterfeiting measures.
• Can discuss the case of "the state itself becoming a counterfeiter" using an actual example from the Bakumatsu and Meiji Restoration period.

Lessons (8)

1. The tool for telling true from false comes firstYou cannot see inside a coin. Because you cannot, it can be trusted — and it can be faked.
2. The quiet crime of clipping, and how it endedThe milled edge is not ornament but an instrument of inspection. The crime ended by design, not by punishment.
3. The largest counterfeiter of allPocketing the gap between face and content is the same structure for a king's debasement and a private forgery. Only legality differs.
4. Trust is kept by enforcement, not by the diePunishment only threatens. What worked was building recognisability into the design.
5. Three safeguards — the countermeasure of machineryA perfect circle and uniform weight, a row of beads, and edge lettering. Milled coinage turned clipping into a crime that was "visible at a glance."
6. Counterfeiter vs. Scientist — The Chaloner CaseThe most famous counterfeiter in history was hunted down by the discoverer of universal gravitation. Enforcement is a human endeavor.
7. The Gallows and Paper — A single sheet of paper becomes heavier than a lifeThe trust in paper money cannot be protected by the severity of punishment. The era of harsh penalties was the darkest scene born from the suspension of convertibility.
8. The State as Counterfeiter — The Ledgers of the Bakumatsu and Meiji RestorationThe largest casting mould for the counterfeit coins, long narrated as the evil deed of Satsuma, was held by the new government. Ledgers are more honest than narratives.

Readings (20)

• A history of false money　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　two thousand seven hundred years　The Birth of the Counterfeit
  §1. The starting point: forgery began together with money.
• A history of false money　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　antiquity　The Touchstone
  §1. The tools for telling true from false. The origin of the biting gesture appears too.
• A history of false money　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　the Middle Ages – the early modern age　Clipping
  §2. Check the scale of the damage done by clipping.
• The machine and the revolution　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　the 17th century　The Milled Edge
  §2. The answer to what the milled edge is for.
• The pillar dollar　Spain　1732　The Mexico City mint
  §2. An actual piece bearing the corded edge. Note the recorded weight.
• The counterfeiter king and the Temple　France　1295–1314　The mint of Paris
  §3. A debasement carried out inside the law. Read as far as Dante's verdict.
• The upheaval at the end of the shogunate and the counterfeit coin　Japan　1868–1869　Edo, the Kinza
  §3. All the figures in the chart come from this stop. Mind the difference between declared and estimated.
• The upheaval at the end of the shogunate and the counterfeit coin　Japan　the 1860s　the domains' residences
  §3. The same events seen from the side of the domains.
• The continental currency　United States　1775–1779　New York, under British occupation
  §3. A state forging an enemy's notes. Mind which came first in time.
• A history of false money　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　AD 1942　Operation Bernhard
  §3. The same method in the twentieth century.
• Newton's Great Recoinage　Britain　1699　London
  §4. The scene that shows what backing by enforcement means.
• The paper pound　Britain　1797–1821　London, the place of execution
  §4. Check the fact that even the heaviest penalty could not protect it.
• The birth of the yen　Japan　1881　the Paper Money Bureau, the engraving room
  §4. The reason why a portrait prevents forgery is written here.
• A history of false money　Overview: 2,700 years of the world　the present day　The War Without End
  §4. A list of the devices piled up in today's notes.
• The louis d'or and machine striking　France　1640–1672　The Paris mint
  Section 5. The original text of the three safeguards. Until the end of ninety years of resistance.
• Newton's Great Recoinage　Britain　1696–1727　The Tower and the taverns of London
  Section 6. A record of the scientist who became an investigator.
• The upheaval at the end of the shogunate and the counterfeit coin　Japan　1869–1871　Tokyo, Takanawa
  Section 8. A record of the conference where the settlement of counterfeit currency became an international agreement.
• The Tester　Greece　375/4 BC　The money-changer's table in the Agora
  This is one of the earliest laws whereby the state, rather than relying on the connoisseurship of private individuals, appointed full-time officials to determine authenticity. The articles of the law specified their designated seating place and even the punishment for neglecting their duties: fifty lashes of the whip.
• A Recoinage　India　Circa 1329–1330　The King's Decision
  This describes the aftermath for the side that lost the battle against counterfeiting. The king redeemed even counterfeit copper coins struck in private homes with gold and silver coins, as if they had been issued in his own name, which depleted the state treasury.
• The White Inflation　Korea　1890s–　Clandestine workshops
  Where the government sold minting patents to cover fiscal deficits, the line between official, clandestine, and counterfeit coinage began to blur. Coins of the same denomination became indistinguishable, and no one could tell from which furnace they had come.

Assessment

11 exercises in this course (8 check, 0 compare, 3 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.

References

• Historical materials related to the Currency Reorganization Project (Hwapyejeongnisaneop). — 국사편찬위원회 우리역사넷　Historical commentary on the private minting and counterfeiting of cupronickel coins and their quality assessment (A, B, C grades) ("Baekdonghwa jeongniwa hwapye geumyung gonghwang").

Only works and primary sources whose existence has been verified are listed.