The worthy, witty and garrulous “Fray Antonia Agapida,” tells us that a certain Count de Tendilla, being closely beset in the mountains of Granada, behind well battered walls, with an army clamorous for pay, and his affairs, as well as those of the brave Christian defenders of Alhama, in a bad way, struck upon a bright idea; one which shows to the world that the brave Catholic cavalier had, in addition to his ability for giving or taking hard knocks, a talent for finance, equalled only by the famous “Law,” in the power of making something out of nothing yet excelling that worthy in the redemption of his pledges.

The chronicler says that the Count took certain morsels of paper, and, writing the amount of the sum he wished them to represent, affixed his name, and ordered that the inhabitants of Alhama should take them in payment at the gold values represented, threatening the severest penalties to all who should refuse their reception. So (according to Fray Antonia) the newly-born assignats, mandats, or SHIN PLASTERS, had all excellent circulation; the soldiers' wants were relieved; nay, their extravagances supplied, the doubting were re-assured, the brave made more brave, and “by a subtle and most miraculous kind of alchemy did this Catholic cavalier turn worthless paper into precious gold, and make his late impoverished garrison abound in money.” The best of the joke, or experiment, was, that the brave Count redeemed his little notes; an example, I am sorry to say, that has not, in all cases, been followed by his more vulgar or more dishonest imitators. The worthy Father claims, however, for “the Count,” the honor of being the first inventor of paper money, which has since inundated the civilized world with unbounded opulence.”*

* Irving's Conquest of Granada

Admitting that the Count de Tendilla was the father of a system eminently convenient, it becomes evident that writing the amounts, numbering and signing of bits or pieces of portable material, representing large or small sums, could not be continued successfully by those who adopted his discovery; and to meet a rapidly increasing want, and a still more rapidly growing desire to promise to pay instead of paying, mechanical appliances were pressed into that service.

For a long time (Faust nor Guttenberg had yet appeared) the engraving art was still confined to the “Niellatore,” or the grotesque and rude cuttings on the drinking vessels of the great and wealthy; the followers of that art traveling from town to town, with the necessary delicate tools carried in the pocket or hat.

Passing over the long period when the kings of France, England, and other equally great monarchs, ignorant or careless of the honest Count's system, thumb-screwed Jews, and occasionally a Gentile or two, debased their own coin, and by clipping or other process rendered it nearly valueless. It was not until the time of the American Revolution that any step was taken in banking or the issuing of notes of indebtedness, whereby the security to the holder of such certificates was at all considered, or any protection to them provided. While the plastic arts were encouraged, nay, petted; while great painters, sculptors, and engravers were springing up, and a new Augustan age appeared to be dawning, the idea of applying art to commercial purposes seemed never to have been even thought of, commerce being too vulgar, or, perhaps, art too respectable.

It was in the midst of our grand struggle for independence that Franklin found time, from his lightning-catching, mail-carrying, diplomatizing and printing, to engrave, en amateur, a set, or several sets, of plates for the Continental money; and his work, much of which is still in existence, shows nothing more than the coarse, ill-drawn practice of the time, easily and frequently counterfeited, lessening in such proportion the value of what was legally issued. At the still later period of the French Revolution, when Painter David divided his time with designs for fêtes to the Goddess of Reason, or to l'être supreme, making drawings and designs to be “at once classical and convenient” for military school-boys, and sending “aristocrats” and “respectabilities” to look through “the little window,” while no less than three engravers sat in the National Assembly, the national assignats and mandats were hardly a shade better in appearance or execution than our own old Continental paper. The legend on the face, that “le contrefaction est mort,” was supposed to be enough, and, as the powers that were had plenty of chances to prove that the threat on the face of the assignat was no idle one, they were satisfied. In fact, no provision was made to prevent counterfeiting, except by the English mode of choking the culprit with a hempen collar, or shortening by a head, like the French; until the rapidly developing prosperity of America, or rather of its several States, under the life-giving hand of Liberty, evoked a system, the benefit of which has long been felt by our commercial classes, and adopted by nations of the highest civilization, whenever they have experienced the want of a perfect paper currency.

To understand clearly what is meant by proper protection to the takers of promises to pay, whether the promise comes from an individual, from a corporation, or from a nation, through its authorized agents, the party or parties giving such promise is, or ought to be, in possession, or constructive possession, of means to redeem such pledge or pledges; and as the said pledge or pledges may be passed from one hand to another, every security and certainty of the genuineness, of such should be carefully added; for, while A may have no doubt of B's willingness and ability to fulfill his engagements, like the brave, hard-handed Count de Tendilla, both merchants, dwelling in the same street, or in the same city, or in cities thousands of miles apart, custom, commercial faith, and business relations they bear together, give each protection; the method of drawing on each other, signatures and other business intricacies, render both comparatively secure, and they liken to the “Count” in his relation to the people of Alhama; but when C, D, or E receives the carefully written document from A, in payment of his (A's) liabilities, what certainty have they that the engrossed and signed evidence of B's indebtedness is genuine, and good to them for the amount expressed on its face? Now, it is evident that some mechanical security is required here, and if a pledge to perform some obligation at a future day is made by a corporation, the genuineness of the bond is at once looked to, or it is taken on the good faith of the broker, who seems to act between the purchaser and the seller, additional guarantee is desired; and experience shows that corporations of the highest character have seldom missed an opportunity to prevent fraud, either against themselves or those dealing with them, by every available appliance, either in art, or mechanical science in connection with art. A merely written pledge, no matter how elaborately engrossed, and done by a single hand, is so exposed to counterfeiting, that no one would receive it with such security alone. Were it to be done simply by movable types, accessible in any ordinary printing-office, who would take it? Where would be the assurance that it was ever issued by the body from whom it professed to have emanated? If promises to pay from nations were now to be handed about, produced by some very short-handed process, the possession of some trifling material, and the handicraft skill, (the only difference between the counterfeiter and authorized agent being the authority of the latter to issue, and the punishment of death as a penalty for intruding on such authority,) what would the legal issues be taken for, and by whom, unless when force was applied? Of the transactions between individuals, there need be no further inquiry; to those between corporations and individuals, we must pay more particular attention.

In olden times, the evidences of transactions were carefully engrossed and signed by the masters and wardens of corporations, the chairmen of guilds, and were never issued without the seal of such corporation or guild. This is about the first of the instances of the necessity of mechanical or clerical combination against the forger, independent of the lawfully required unity in the act of those issuing a bond. The carefully written document had no value without the joint signatures; the bond and signatures were still valueless without the seal. Thus, whether by accident or design, were walls put between the counterfeiter and his desire to defraud. In our own day, when education is almost universal and material with which to do evil is easy of access, no corporation is satisfied with their own obligations, when put out freely, unless they have every security which law and art can give them, that the public may take their pledges without doubt, and that they themselves may be protected in turn; in addition to which, General Governments, doubting whether corporations have souls or not, take every possible safeguard to prevent an issue beyond the means of the corporation, and require that everything they issue, be it in the shape of a bond or in the likeness or similitude of a bank note, be prepared so as to prevent fraudulent imitation.

If it is necessary thus to guard against fraud, where the chances of its detection are abundant, how much more careful should General Governments be to protect those for whom they are the executors, particularly, where enormous sums are scattered broadcast, where every denomination is current, and where the few cents of the laborer, and the five hundreds of the merchant prince, spring from the same source, be it a State, an assemblage of States, or a Kingdom?

The greater part of the civilized world has realized the fact and the importance of the approval and adoption of a system, which originating on this continent, and growing out of its prosperity, has been hailed as a success, and adopted as a security.

Soon after the American war, England, though still embroiled in a saturnalia of blood, was (commercially) exceedingly prosperous. The different States of America, emerging from a long and bloody struggle, with a new-found liberty, untrammelled by foreign alliance, an enormous domain, extensive seacoast, and a hardy and self-reliant people, experienced business prosperity and success unexampled in the history of the world. Both countries felt a want hitherto unknown in their mutual transactions, (an extensive trade following the war;) a lack of something to represent values well ascertained; but from scarcity of bullion, its difficulty of transport, the risk attending its transmission, and the want of a new system of paper money, the subject agitated the minds of the whole business community. The English tried hanging extensively, and without effect; commissions of inquiry as to the invention or introduction of a method of producing bank notes were established—one under Sir William Congreve, to which all the best artists of England were invited, and liberal rewards were offered. The most brilliant artists of the day in England promptly responded; beautiful drawings and engravings were submitted and the collective artist voice of England answered that there was no protection against the forger and counterfeiter, unless by the highest expression of the arts of drawing and engraving and the finest and most complicated lettering, coupled with the use of carefully prepared paper. The employment of the Rose engine was also suggested as an additional security. About the same time that the artists of England were thus exercising themselves, an American engraver, Mr. Joshua Perkins, was cracking the nut of the difficulty, which was nearly as great at that time in the American States as in England. (In a few years, but for Mr. Perkins, it would have been much greater.) With a thorough knowledge of the engraving art, Mr. Perkins, remarkable for skill in mechanics, and deep knowledge, for the time, in the management of steel, its carbonization and decarbonization, had come to the same conclusion as the English artists, viz: the importance of the introduction of the highest development of the commercial art of the day. He went much further, and proved that it was not only the greatest protection, but also successfully met the objections which arose from the statements of the English artists, who endeavored to prove that, no matter how desirable, high art could not be employed, from the scarcity of skilled labor indispensable to that end. The only method suggested by them of production or reproduction was, that upon the receipt of an elaborate drawing, the engraver was to closet himself for months, if need be, and carefully produce a work of art which, after having the addition of the necessary lettering would be published to the world as a bank note. The objections to this mode are several, and self-evident. First: Plates wear out rapidly, and the sickness or death of the artist would involve the destruction of the original plate when worn, it being next to impossible to make an accurate or successful copy; again, it would put the Government in the hands of the first artist who might make enormous demands to reproduce his own work; but the insuperable barrier existed, that there were not skilled artists enough in the country, nor probably in the world, to meet with the daily and increasing wants of the nation. The invention of Mr. Perkins, and a description of his method of reproducing the finest engravings, and their application, is worthy of another chapter.

The preservation and reproduction of the finest work of the engraving art in “petit” was all of Mr. Perkins' invention. Knowing that the steel upon which the skilled and patient artist had curiously and cunningly wrought the careful tracery of face and form, of hill and dale, the classic and grotesque, the heroic and the humble, would, under the hand of the printer, soon become obliterated, he, fortunately for art, introduced, or rather invented, an application of well known chemical laws to the preservation of the art gem so carefully manipulated, and, by an inversion of his processes, multiplied it ad infinitum.

Without troubling the reader with the philosophical details of Mr. Perkins' process, we will simply state his manner of procedure. Into an air-tight box, filled with finely powdered animal charcoal, the glittering and beautiful piece of steel is imbedded; the metal box and its precious contents are then submitted to the action of an intense fire for several hours. The steel, previously robbed of its carbon, to render it soft enough for the steel instrument of the engraver, sucks, as it were, from the carbon by which it is surrounded, under the influence of the fiery god, that which it had formerly. Its hardness secured by the workman plunging the reddened plate into water or oil. It now bids defiance to the instrument that previously could plough through its polished surface. The plate hardened, has become brittle, and, under a severe blow, would almost crumble; still its hardness enables it to despise friction, and the tablet is in a condition which may yield hundreds of thousands of impressions. The artist, pursuing his object, and not content with securing his original engraving, determines that it shall serve as the matrix of copies innumerable. On the periphery of a cylinder of steel, thoroughly decarbonized, and under the rolling pressure of the transfer press, all the delicate lines in intaglio, every scratch, cut, or even the nervous trace of the carelessly imposed hand, is, however, taken up en relievo. This roll, or cylinder, is, then, in turn, submitted to the hardening process, which if successfully prosecuted, gives to the engraver a tool by which his art treasures can be multiplied millions of times.

It is deemed proper in this paper to avoid all technical, chemical, or philosophic terms, although the memory of Mr. Perkins may be wronged, when the deep thought, the careful analysis, and frequent experiment, is not sufficiently dwelt upon and lauded, for he not only made the egg to stand on its end, but accomplished what the artist world of France and England deemed an impossibility. His process perfected, Perkins, and three other artist compatriots, went to England. That nation, still smarting, every portion of its human economy being touched, if not hurt, received them coldly—warmth was scarcely to be expected, and these gentlemen met, in their attempt to answer a national call, contempt, rudeness, and (but for the presence of some Americans of wealth) poverty, and, perhaps, a sheriff's prison. Even Sir WILLIAM CONGREVE, in his report, dispatches the invention of Perkins, and the labor of his coadjutors, with the expression, that “our American friends were ignorant of the state of the fine arts in England.”

It is strange that Sir William should not have recognized the fact that the foreign artists did not wish to destroy the engraving art, but only to perpetuate its finest or best expression, to to make it comparatively free to the public, and give to the masses what was then only obtainable by the wealthy; and for the purposes of banks, either national or local, a security they never before possessed. First, by reproducing, with great rapidity and trifling cost, the finest works of the engraver; secondly, the absolute veri-similitude of each transfer from the original; thirdly, the division of a labor, when bank notes were required, involving, without increasing the real cost, the labor of the following described artists and workmen:

The designer or modeler of the note or bond.

Second, the repetition of the denominations of the note in a variety of ways, and carried to any extent by means of the transfer press. This work may be incorporated with the body of the note or printed from a separate plate in a color. This is found to be a great addition to its security; the original word or words being engraved with a view to its perfection, is repeated to infinity, if necessary, and absolute similarity is obtained throughout the whole, which would be impossible when done by hand. Very beautiful “denomination counters” are produced in a similar manner, and present still greater difficulties to the counterfeiter.

Third, the Medallion Ruling Machine. The beautiful work produced by this machine, so much admired by the lovers of classic and the antique, was in very general use twenty years ago, and considered, at that time, as an effectual bar to imitation, but is now considered less as a security than as a means of ornamentation. The machine is of such simple construction and so easy to be obtained, that its use, as a security, has been nearly abandoned.

Fourth, the Geometric Lathe has been esteemed, at all times, as the sheet anchor of public security against the dangers of forgery. This wonderful and truly “eccentric” machine has a power of production, as regards change and variety of combination and effect, that is really amazing. The least change of a wheel of the eccentric, or turn of a set screw, produces a new pattern that shames the kaleidoscope. It defies the efforts of the mathematician to calculate the extent of its variations; the lines intertwining and crossing each other at all angles are perfection itself, conforming to any shape the operator chooses to adopt; and when the transfer press is brought to its aid, to give additional change to the character of its work, human ingenuity fails in the attempt to produce an imitation.

Fifth, the Transfer Press is the triumph of Mr. Perkins' invention; it is the foundation upon which the whole superstructure of the art of bank note engraving rests. It may be likened to the lever of Archimedes, in its power to “move the world.” A powerful compound lever over a solid bed of iron, upon which the hardened plate is placed, the soft cylinder or “die” then placed in position, the ponderous lever closes on it, a rolling motion forward and backwards is communicated, and in a few minutes the ductile metal receives the reverse of the engraving with the certainty and accuracy of the electrotype battery. Recent improvements have added greatly to the general utility of this machine. Many of the most beautiful and elaborate ornaments on our notes are produced by transferring process, and though the production of new plates and the “retouching” of those worn by the hand of the printer, brings it into daily and hourly requisition, yet it knows no “idle time” in the various other duties it is expected to perform.

The competition for patronage which has always existed among the various establishments engaged in the business of bank note engraving, which, while it gave rise to many important mechanical improvements, and impulse to the creative faculties of the artist, yet in the inordinate desire for the introduction of novelties, has, in some respects, vitiated the tastes of the community. This is observed in the overcrowded, many-colored, badly-modeled notes of the present day, giving to the bank note much the appearance of a fanciful label on a cologne water bottle; and so far from adding to the difficulty of counterfeiting, it is argued that a poor imitation of one of these parti-colored notes is more likely to be successful than that of a note of a more simple design. A counterfeit is oftener detected at a single glance than by close examination; that is to say, the first look at a note determines either its genuineness or its doubtful character, and it is only on close examination that certainty is obtained; the least change, either in general appearance or any of the details, will be perceived instantaneously, where the embellishments are well placed and distinct from each other, while the gorgeous, calico-patterned note of present fashion fatigues and confuses the eye, depriving that organ of its keenness of observation, and exposing its owner to loss and vexation.