Chapter 2066 - Counterfeit Silver Dollars
"Isn't it said that the embossing is stamped directly onto the paper by a steel die?"
"That's precisely the problem—it's the die itself that defeats us," the foreman replied with evident frustration. "We've attempted several different approaches, all without success. We've managed a few that look passable at a casual glance, but none that withstand close inspection."
"This is a matter for Old Qiu to ponder further."
"I fear even he has reached the limits of what's possible." Hao Er paused, then added with deliberate gravity, "You all must proceed with the utmost caution. Should the Australians obtain even a single sample of this work, you may live long enough to earn your silver—but not long enough to spend it..."
"Understood!" the foreman acknowledged gravely, then asked, "Master, what shall we do next?"
"Continue your experiments. As for the block-carving, I think we should have Old Qian pause his current work for now—wood simply will not suffice as a material. We'll need to identify an alternative medium for engraving. In the meantime, trace out the patterns on the notes in complete detail—enlarge them significantly and copy every element as clearly and precisely as possible. The more exact, the better!"
Hao Er emerged from the workshop and stood in the courtyard for a long while, silent and brooding. Hao An dared not speak and waited respectfully at his side, statue-still.
At length, Hao Er spoke, his voice heavy. "Hao An... do you think we were right or wrong to involve ourselves in this business?"
Hao An lowered his head and considered carefully before answering. "Is the enterprise not progressing well, Master?"
"If it were progressing well, would I need to ask?" Hao Er drew a deep breath. "Were it not for the debt of protection I owe Master Wang, I would never have accepted this assignment. It should never have come to this!"
Hao An knew, however, that his master's reservations were more performance than substance. Given Master Wang's formidable power and influence, Hao Er could hardly have refused the commission. Besides, years ago, when Hao Er's audacious forgery of official appointment documents had gone catastrophically awry and fallen into an enemy's hands, it was Master Wang who had intervened decisively and kept him out of prison—otherwise, his bones would long since have turned to dust in some unmarked grave.
"Master mustn't speak so despondently," Hao An counseled. "The winds of a thousand days at sea cannot all blow fair. This time, Stone Elder himself has dispatched master craftsmen to assist us—he knows the Australian enemy better than anyone alive. Perhaps there will yet be a breakthrough."
"You speak wisely." Hao Er nodded, visibly gathering himself. "Come, let us inspect the other establishment."
Master and servant left the courtyard, slipped into a narrow alley, and soon reached what appeared to be a dead end piled high with firewood. Hao An methodically moved the stacked wood aside, revealing a small door concealed in the wall. He knocked softly in a measured rhythm; a viewing panel snapped open.
Hao An raised his lantern to illuminate his face, allowing those inside to verify his identity. Moments later came the familiar sounds of bolts and locks being drawn back.
This proved to be yet another courtyard—one heaped with charcoal, with a large ash-filled pit beside it.
At the center stood an open-sided workshop, brilliantly lit and blazing with furnace heat. The rhythmic clanging of metal on metal rang incessantly. Waves of heat and charcoal dust gusted outward—all in all, it resembled nothing so much as a blacksmith's forge.
This was the rear courtyard of a goldsmith's establishment. Work proceeded at full intensity; Hao Er's arrival drew no particular notice from the intensely focused craftsmen.
"Make way! Make way! Molten silver coming through!" At the shouted warning, a glowing crucible came gliding along a rail suspended from the rafters, propelled expertly from beside the furnace.
Hao Er stepped aside and watched as the molten silver was poured into a casting mold. Smoke billowed upward; the acrid smell of carbonized tung oil assaulted his nostrils. The foundry workers seemed entirely inured to it. After a measured interval, the silver cooled sufficiently; the molds were opened, and row upon row of round silver discs tumbled out onto the workbench. An elderly, white-haired master carefully picked up one disc with tongs and announced, "Ruined! Recast this batch!"
Hao Er intercepted him. "Master Qiu, what precisely is the problem? This looks quite acceptable to my untrained eye."
"Ah! Master! When did you arrive?" The man called Master Qiu set down his tongs and fetched two exquisite silver dollars from a nearby table. "Master, please observe carefully."
Hao Er waved him off with a self-deprecating gesture. "I know nothing of such technical matters. Simply tell me what you see, and I shall listen."
Old Qiu held up the first coin in his weathered palm. On its obverse were inscribed the characters "One Yuan" in regular script, surrounded by elegant wheat-sheaf designs. Below ran a smaller inscription: "Central Reserve Bank," along with several unfamiliar Australian symbols resembling tadpole script. On the reverse appeared a circular emblem trailing ribbons, surmounted by a four-pointed star. Most remarkably, the rim of the coin was milled with a precise ring of fine serrations—Hao Er could not even begin to imagine how they had been inscribed with such uniformity.
"Master, this is one of the Australian one-yuan silver dollars now circulating freely in the streets. The manager obtained it fresh-minted from Delong Bank—new currency. As you can observe: the design is sharply defined, the surface flawless, without the slightest burr or imperfection. When weighed with precision, each coin measures six qian, seven fen, seven li, and five hao; thickness is seven li, eight hao, one si, two hu, five wei; diameter precisely one cun, one fen. Chemical assay reveals it contains five qian, nine fen, two li, eight hao, one si, eight hu, five wei of pure silver—not quite ninety percent purity; approximately eighty-seven point five on the touchstone."
Hao Er had heard these specifications recited before—Old Qiu was the foremost expert in this specialized craft, an elderly man now, inclined toward verbose repetition of technical details—but Hao Er indulged him patiently.
"Now please examine this specimen." Master Qiu exchanged the coins. "How does the appearance strike you?"
This second coin felt similarly substantial in the hand—almost identical in weight. Under lamplight, both faces displayed recognizable designs, superficially close to the original. Yet the counterfeit's surface possessed less luster, bearing faint wave-like striations—the telltale ripple pattern of high-purity silver known colloquially as "moire silver." What was normally considered a hallmark of quality became, in this context, an insurmountable flaw revealing the forgery. The imagery, too, appeared coarser upon close inspection; the rim serrations proved uneven and irregular.
"This is nearly there—at least eighty percent similar, I'd judge," Hao Er conceded.
"It's the finest specimen we've produced, but it costs us dearly to make." Master Qiu shook his head ruefully.
Hao Er understood immediately. "This was hand-chased by master engravers?"
"Indeed. We hired the finest engravers available—top-tier talent—and used ninety-seven point five assay pure silver specially refined for the purpose. Yet the result still falls visibly short of the Australians' coins, which test at less than ninety percent purity!"
Hao Er studied the two coins intently, turning them over and over in his palm. The hand-chased counterfeit was not only rougher in finish but noticeably duller in sheen—lacking that peculiar brilliance the genuine coin possessed.
"The Australians' silver is plainly different from ours in some fundamental way," Master Qiu observed with professional frustration. "Observe how the genuine coin has absolutely no moire pattern, not a single bubble or void—dense and solid throughout. Ours displays moire patterns everywhere and is riddled with microscopic pores; we cannot match its smoothness no matter what we attempt."
Old Qiu picked up another disc fresh from the mold. "This one just emerged from the casting—the die was painstakingly engraved by those master craftsmen I mentioned. But once cast... well, it's simply... simply..." He repeated "simply" twice but could not bring himself to complete the sentence, his disappointment too profound.
Hao Er accepted the "silver disc" for examination. Its design was hopelessly blurred, fine patterns and inscriptions barely discernible. Worse still, its shape proved visibly irregular compared to the original's perfect circularity.
"And the silver content?"
"Also ninety-seven point five assay pure silver!"
Hao Er murmured thoughtfully, "Pure silver... Could it be that the Australians have alloyed some unknown ingredient, which produces their superior casting results?"
"We considered that possibility extensively." Old Qiu brought out several more plain silver discs laid out in sequence. "Master, please observe: these are all test pieces alloyed with varying proportions of base metals—copper, lead, tin, zinc. The results... proved no better than pure silver alone. Some were actually worse."
Moreover, they had discovered a vexing fundamental problem: silver coins cast from molds behaved entirely differently from copper cash. Copper coins, once cast, might possess minor burrs requiring filing, but their size and shape generally conformed reliably to the mold's dimensions. Silver coins, cast under seemingly identical conditions, exhibited frustrating variations in both dimension and form—as though the metal possessed a stubborn will of its own.
"Master Li was once the premier craftsman at the Guangdong Provincial Treasury Mint; the molds he creates are uniform in thickness and dimensionally precise. Yet no matter what we attempt, nothing produces consistent results. In desperation, Master Li suggested we conduct a definitive test using genuine Australian silver dollars—to determine conclusively what method they actually employ. So we melted down an entire crucible-full of real coins for experimental purposes."
"...And the result? The cast ingots proved indistinguishable from our earlier attempts! It seems the Australians use fundamentally ordinary silver—only they possess some secret metallurgical technique for minting that we do not."
Hao Er turned the samples and finished products over and over in his hands, growing increasingly agitated with each examination. He had foolishly assumed the counterfeit coin operation would prove easier than the paper currency—surely, with skilled goldsmiths and silversmiths readily available, they could replicate the designs well enough to achieve eight or nine parts out of ten accuracy. Yet the grim reality mirrored the paper-currency workshop: negligible meaningful progress, with not even the basic materials and techniques successfully resolved.
Next update: Volume Seven—The Liangguang Campaign, Section 179
(End of Chapter)