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:—

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

RULES:

It is believed, and experience has proved, that the above combination of rules is arranged in the most judicious and effective order, and the best adapted for practical use in detecting at sight that could be devised. It is in fact nearly the order in which a genuine plate is originally got up. First the “Geometric Lathe” dies, “Medallions,” and “Vignettes” are transferred; then the “Lettering” and “Ruling Engine” work, next the “Paper and Printing,” “Signatures and filling up,” and lastly, after all is finished, the “General appearance” of the whole.