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The First ‘Confidence Man’ And Other Historic Cheats

Khalid Elhassan November 18, 2019 28 min

Orson Welles - H. G. Wells — Orson Welles defending himself to journalists after the War of the Worlds panic. Corbis

15. Chaloner Gets Into the Big Leagues

Around 1690, William Chaloner got back into counterfeiting, but his days of cloning four penny groats were over. Now, he focused on higher-value coins such as French Pistoles, worth about 17 shillings, and fake English guineas. Chaloner established a well-oiled counterfeiting ring that produced fake coins in quantity, and passed them on to contacts in the underworld for circulation. Soon, he was a wealthy man, so he expanded operations by buying himself a nice house in the countryside, where the noise of his coining machines would not attract attention.

By 1693, Chaloner had expanded his repertoire to add anti-Jacobite agent provocateur to the list. The Jacobites – supporters of the recently dethroned King James II, chased out of England by the Glorious Revolution of 1688 – were trying to restore James. So Chaloner took to feigning sympathy for their cause, drawing them out into treasonous activity, then snitching on them to the authorities for a generous reward. In one instance, he collected 1000 pounds – a small fortune – for setting up and turning in a pair of Jacobite patsies, who ended up getting executed. It was not long before Chaloner decided that instead of wasting time in trying to find Jacobite conspirators, it was easier to just invent them out of thin air.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.