Heretofore the best judges of money have had nothing as a guide in judging
at sight but experience in handling money, a familiarity with the notes of
a few particular banks, and the general appearance of a note. They become
familiar with a certain (to them) undefined perfect appearance, generally
possessed by genuine notes, and any apparent want of which creates
suspicion as to the genuineness of a note; but the first impression, they
affirm, is the best, as sometimes upon continued examination the judgment,
having no particular guide, wavers, gets confused, and is often at fault.
Now this uncertainty may be entirely obviated, and the detection of
counterfeits at sight reduced to a perfect science or mathematical
certainty; and this great desideratum is held to be perfectly attained in
the rules here presented, when combined with a little practice in handling
money.
All genuine Bank Notes in the United States are engraved upon one uniform
principle, by regular Bank-note Engraving Companies. A company consists of
ten to twenty first-class artists, each perfect in his own department;
there is required a heavy capital to be invested, and the use of perfect,
costly and inimitable machinery. Since the invention of the Geometric
Lathe, Ruling Engine, and Medallion Ruling, and the invention of
transferring engravings by Perkins, it has been rendered entirely out of
the question--in fact, a physical impossibility--for any genuine note to
be perfectly imitated. Counterfeiters cannot procure all the machinery;
and even supposing they could, it would be against their own interest to
invest $50,000 to $100,000 in an illegitimate business, to run the
hazardous risk of seizure and confiscation. It would be more to their
interest to invest that amount in any honest business. They therefore
attempt to imitate the several kinds of inimitable engine-work by hand,
and the imitations thus produced vary in character from miserably poor to
tolerable, and sometimes exceedingly close imitations--deceiving the best
judges who do not understand the principle, but detected at a glance by
any one understanding it, as it is explained and illustrated in the
following pages. Sometimes they get hold of one or more worn-out stolen
genuine dies and use them in their issues--and so far their work will be
genuine; but there is always enough else of the other portions of the work
to indicate a counterfeit note.
The following items, quoted from newspapers (June, 1850), will serve to
show the necessity of the diffusion of some system of infallible detection
at sight:--
🖙 “The Western States, it is said, are flooded with $2 bills of the State
Bank, Indiana.”--_Times._
🖙 The _Boston Traveller_ of Wednesday, June 5th, says, “It is not supposed
that counterfeit money is manufactured in this city. The greater part of
the money of this description which has for years flooded the country,
comes from Canada, where, from various causes, its manufacturers have been
left comparatively undisturbed, to carry on their nefarious business. … It
is not perhaps an exaggeration to say that traders in our city are cheated
out of at least $50,000 annually, by means of counterfeit money.”
Now in New York city, which is four times larger than Boston, this system
has been pretty generally diffused among the merchants for nine months
past, and it may be safely predicted that for the year 1850 there will not
be one-tenth, or even a twentieth of the above sum lost here by
counterfeits. Men who handle any money should not refuse to expend the
trifling sum to learn this system. They should reflect that besides it
being against their own interests to remain ignorant of it, their neglect
to learn it _is just so much encouragement to counterfeiters_, because the
less this system is spread the greater the chance for counterfeit money to
circulate and defraud the public; therefore, every honest man should put
his shoulder to the wheel to facilitate the diffusion of the system, and
thereby assist to drive all spurious money out of circulation. The
different periodical Bank-note Lists are excellent guides, _as far as they
go_, but they do not and cannot go far enough. They assist too often
_after_ the mischief is done. In hundreds of cases their description of
counterfeits is necessarily vague and uncertain, especially where the
counterfeit is a _fac-simile_ of the genuine: they never make a man a good
judge of money _at sight_. But the greatest trouble is that new
counterfeits, it is said, are generally “rushed” in upon the community
preconcertedly, from different points at once, and the greatest mischief
is often done before they have time to get the description in the List.
Now this system will enable the poorest judge to detect _any_ counterfeit,
_new_ or old, AT SIGHT. It is arranged systematically into seven rules,
simple and comprehensive at a glance of the eye. For self-instruction a
magnifying glass will be of great assistance at first in learning the
principle, and afterwards the naked eye will be sufficient to detect, but
it is advisable to always have a glass on hand. Also a few specimens of
bills, good and bad, to compare and examine at first is necessary to make
the theory practical. The following is the list of