History of Counterfeits

Forgery of money is engaged from a long time ago. The ways of counterfeiting differ: it was possible to cut coins, reducing their weight, or to give out for silver or gold coins made of other metals covered only with its thin layer, and also to spoil the coin by lowering the percentage of precious metals in the alloy. Such tricks were used not only by single scammers, but also by the first persons of different countries. But if petty crooks were executed and ruthlessly tortured, then no high-ranking official and feudal lord was punished. Fakes appeared almost simultaneously with the appearance of money. The oldest known proof of this is a marble slab in the Greek city of Dima from the Peloponnese Peninsula. On the plate there is an engraving dated V in. Bc. E., Telling about six petty bourgeoises who stole copper for making counterfeit coins from the city temple, which subsequently was sentenced to death. The Greeks carved out such sentences only in situations where the criminals managed to escape. Such engravings were made in order to search for intruders. At the same time, the government first dealt with the damage of coins. At the ebb of the coins from the electron - an alloy of gold and silver - silver was added much more than was required, which reduced the percentage of gold. Already in the VI. Bc. E. There were coins with gold and silver coating, which had a lead or copper core. Engaged in coinage of such coins Polycrates from the island of Samos (about 540-52 BC) - a tyrant whose cunning was legendary than himself. Spartans, who defeated him, he paid the contribution of these coins. Even a silver denarius, the main currency of the Roman Empire, became subaerated on bad days. At the time when Hannibal pressed on Rome, in the Second Punic War (218-201 BC.), The coin declined from 4.55 to 3.88 g. In 87 BC. E. A government department was established to monitor the quality of coins issued, thanks to the edict of the praetor Maria Gratsidiana. The revival of counterfeit money came in the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Uncomplicated drawings and words on coins were made with the help of simple stamping technique, which greatly facilitated the process of forgery. In the VIII century. N.E. In the Frankish state, the first medieval laws were adopted, punishing counterfeiters for their deeds. In Germany, such fraudsters were poured into the throat of molten lead, or cooked alive in boiling water. The law is uniform for all. Even the representatives of the weaker sex did not regret - in the city of Lübeck 17-year-old Margaret Grimm exchanged several fake thalers in 1456. They threw alive into a vat of boiling tar. The forgers in the UK were tied to a contemptuous pole, torn off the nostrils and ears. In the 1430's. In France, accused of illegally chasing coins made of native gold, the Knights Guillaume de Shangre and Francois de Ronne, killed the bailiffs of the king in their castle and defended themselves against the onslaught of state soldiers for a month. Counterfeiting was a long tradition in Russia. There were "light" pennies, tin or copper "thieves' coins, inform the sources of the XVI century. Without weighing, it was almost impossible to identify" light "coins from low-grade silver. In 1611, in the territories of Novgorod and Karelia, Swedish "peacekeepers" were engaged in the manufacture of counterfeit Russian coins. They were called "thin trunks." In the 17th century, even in spite of the severe sanctions applied to counterfeiters, many tin and copper "thieves' coins" arose in Moscow. Mostly they were sold in provincial towns, because of insignificant control over financial turnover. In 1656, the government wanted a copper penny, which was in demand by the population, to replace silver. This greatly facilitated the process of making counterfeit money. The very head of the Great Treasury, boyar Ivan Miloslavsky, forced to coin coins from his copper, which he brought to the mint at the same time as the state mint. He also exempted thieves from stealing money from taking bribes from them. The mint workers secretly made money from their own copper, carrying it hidden in food. After the control at the checkpoint was tightened, the masters began to throw money to accomplices through the fence, or simply swallow them. In any case, even the most skilful counterfeit lone individuals could not outdo the scale of the state's activities if it began to engage in falsification. For example, during the Second World War, large-scale falsification was carried out by the Germans. Two counterfeit paper factories were fabricating fake British pounds - one was in the Czech Sudetes, Another in the Rhineland. In addition to mass falsifications, they did not do anything else. The Nazis even wanted to literally fill the land of Great Britain with these banknotes, dropping them from airplanes.