Inventions for thwarting the production of counterfeit currency appeared as early as the 18th century. With the explosion of banknotes in the 1830s came a concomitant rise in counterfeit detectors and technological improvements meant to dissuade forgers. Crafty and clever, counterfeiters seemed always a few steps ahead of the authorities and ahead of the curve of public knowledge, remaining successful through the end of the century. In this case are but a few examples from the Library Company’s rich collection of counterfeit detectors.
Abel Brewster. A Plan for Producing an Uniformity in the Ornamental Part of Bank or Other Bills Where There Is Danger of Forgery. Philadelphia: Thomas Town, 1810.
Brewster, from Hartford, Connecticut, was one in a long line of men devoted to creating a counterfeit-proof bill. While acknowledging that there was nothing that “cannot be imitated in a greater or less [sic] degree,” he nevertheless put forth his own plan to make special engravers’ dies and punches whose designs could not be copied by hand.
Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E. DuBois. A Manual of Gold and Silver Coins. Philadelphia: At the Assay Office of the Mint, 1842.
Mint assayers Eckfeldt and DuBois included an extensive passage on counterfeit coins in their tour-de-force on coinage from around the world. Interestingly, they pondered the metaphysics of monetary value and the true nature of counterfeits: If people continued to circulate coins even if they were fakes, then were they not still effective financial instruments facilitating financial transactions? Nevertheless, in an effort to teach readers how to identify counterfeits, they stressed the importance of judging a coin by how it looked and felt (hence the elaborately detailed embossed plates), sounded when dropped, and even smelled.
Van Court’s Counterfeit Detector. Philadelphia: J. Van Court. March, 1849.
Counterfeiting, especially of bank bills, had become such big business that by mid century it spawned auxiliary businesses, such as the publishing of counterfeit detectors. Van Court’s, published since the late 1830s, grew thicker over time as counterfeits flooded the market. Van Court tried to make his publication more readable than others, using a tabbed index system by location and attaching a monthly notice of new forgeries. Needless to say, counterfeit detectors became obsolete quickly, even those appearing in monthly installments.
John Thompson. The Autographical Counterfeit Detector. New York, 1853.
Thompson published many kinds of counterfeit detectors, including several editions of this example, showing “authentic” facsimiles of bank officers’ signatures. Many observed that the information helped counterfeiters more than it did businessmen.
Waterman L. Ormsby. Cycloidal Configuration or The Harvest of Counterfeiters. New York: W. L. Ormsby, [not before 1862].
The advent of new machine-generated engraving techniques provided both opportunities and challenges for enterprising counterfeiters. For example, printers began generating banknotes from several dies put together, each carrying a pictorial vignette, denomination, or decorative border. Rather than engrave an entire note, skilled artisans would be hired to do only parts, and perhaps multiples of each element at the same time. Financial need and simple opportunity drove engravers to seek employment from counterfeiters as well. Waterman Lilly Ormsby was one of these men. Although he dedicated much of his life to exposing many counterfeiting techniques, he worked for counterfeiters as well. In this publication, he explains how one can produce copies using the offset process.
One of the most prolific publishers of counterfeit detectors, Laban Heath also offered instruction in his “system” of counterfeit detection. Addressing both businessmen and the public at large, he taught women the art of counterfeit detection and published a “home edition” of his signature manual. This example shows the high quality of his specimens, taken from actual government-issued notes.
![Waterman L. Ormsby. Cycloidal Configuration or The Harvest of Counterfeiters. New York: W. L. Ormsby, [not before 1862].](images/section6/5-9 am1862ormsby-53448-o-1-p26-7.jpg)
