ABN Booklet - Detection and Recognition of Fraudulent Securities Detector - American Bank Note Company

Booklet on the "Detection and Recongnition of Fraudulent Securities" by American Bank Note Company. Several stocks included. The inaugural genuine counterfeit detector was introduced by Mahlon Day in New York City. The earliest surviving edition of Day's publication is dated August 16, 1830, and is titled Day's New-York Bank Note List, Counterfeit Detector and Price Current. However, it is believed that Day had been issuing such publications since approximately 1826. Notably, as early as 1823, he also published annual almanacs that included concise information regarding discount rates and counterfeit detection.

The second counterfeit detector to be released, also in New York City, was Sylvester's Reporter, initiated by Sylvester J. Sylvester around April 1830. Following this, the first detector published outside of New York was Bicknell's Counterfeit Detector, and Pennsylvania Reporter of Bank Notes, Broken Banks, Stocks, etc., which was launched in Philadelphia by Robert T. Bicknell on July 31, 1830. At the time of its introduction, the number of banks operating in the United States exceeded 300.