How Isaac Newton Caught One Of History's Biggest Counterfeiters

The Delaware Gazette reports Chaloner apprenticed as a nail maker before turning his attentions to making fake coins. He was so successful that he managed to buy a large house just with his counterfeit coins. When he was first questioned about the fake coins, Chaloner claimed that he stumbled onto the casts used to make

The Delaware Gazette reports Chaloner apprenticed as a nail maker before turning his attentions to making fake coins. He was so successful that he managed to buy a large house just with his counterfeit coins. When he was first questioned about the fake coins, Chaloner claimed that he stumbled onto the casts used to make coins and took them to catch the counterfeiters. 

Meanwhile, as Chaloner's notoriety grew, Newton was determined to catch him. Per Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters, informants were brought to the Tower of London (where the Royal Mint was then located) so he could get a confession out of them. Then, he hit upon an idea: he hired people to be his inside men in Chaloner's group, and they slowly gathered evidence against Chaloner. By the time Chaloner was brought to trial, Newton had convinced the counterfeiter's former partner to cooperate: He produced evidence that Chaloner was not only counterfeiting coins, but creating fake paper money in multiple currencies. Even worse, Chaloner's wife testified against him, as well as old members of his gang, until Chaloner's fate was sealed, and in 1699, he was hanged. 

Newton was quite successful at his job, obviously, and he was eventually promoted to being "Master" of the Royal Mint. 

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