5th Rule, the Lettering and Engravers’ Names. It is an exceedingly rare thing indeed to find anything near first-class lettering in a counterfeit; but the Engravers’ names _always fail_--the writer has never seen a single exception. 6th Rule, the Signatures and Filling Up. Counterfeits are so often palpably filled up all in one handwriting as to make this an important rule; also look out for lithographed ‘fac-similes.’ 7th Rule, Paper and General Appearance. Experience has proved that it is always best in judging a doubtful bill to apply the rules in their proper order, one after the other, commencing with the 1st, otherwise a person might forget one or two rules, and neglect to apply the very rule that would most palpably condemn the bill. The writer has never seen a counterfeit where less than _two_ of the rules would condemn it at sight, and the rest genuine work. But the majority of counterfeits are condemned by three, four, five, six, and very often the whole seven rules. THE STEEL-PLATE ILLUSTRATION. The steel plate, next to the title-page, contains a standard specimen of all the different styles of genuine engraving on all bank notes of all banks in the United States. But _those particular patterns_ or dies do not belong to any regular Bank-note Engraving Co. in the U.S. They, with others, were sold at auction some years since, and duplicate dies have been made from them and scattered over the country, New York, Boston and Philadelphia, and some of them have got into counterfeiters’ hands, who use them in their spurious issues. Therefore no pattern like any one of these will ever be seen in a genuine note; but one or more of the duplicates of them will often be seen in a counterfeit. The plate therefore serves two purposes--1st, illustrating genuine and perfect work; 2d, to guard against genuine auction dies used in counterfeits. Another auction vignette die, often seen in counterfeits, but never in a genuine bill, is a woman sitting by a sheaf of wheat, canal lock on the right and locomotive and bridge on the left. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Universal Counterfeit and Bank Note Detector at Sight, by H. C. Foote