Excerpt from Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1770-1772

From the peculiar Sort of Paper, on which thefe notes were impreffed, the many different Devices and Checks with which they were guarded, it was hoped that they would baffle the Attempts of the molt crafty and defign ing to counterfeit them. Sufpicions it feems have been for fome Time enter tained in the upper Parts of the country, but it is only within thele few Days the forgeries of the Emiffion of 1771, and not till this Morning thofe of 1769, have been deteéted and fixed upon with Certainty. Let it be remarked, that, in the genuine good Bills of both Emiffions, the Ornaments, by fome called the Entablatures, by others the Feathers, which are railed and partly turned over the Mens Heads in the Coats of Arms, are different as the original Devices are; the one is much broader than the other; the Point of the Halbert or Spear held by each of the Men in his left Hand runs up lo high as to touch the broad En tablature, but in the Arms with the narrow Entablature the point of the Hal bert falls confiderably below it, fo that this difierence alone does not prove any of the Bills to be forged, as it is common to both Sorts. The five Pound Bills of both Emiffions hitherto difcovered to have been counterfeited have all the Coats of Arms with the broad Entablature or Feather, which with all the other Devices and Types very nearly refemble thofe of the genuine Bills. Some of the molt apparent ftriking Differences in thole dated 1771 are thefe: In the good Bills the T W in the white Water Letters under the Signers Names appear plainly, when held up to the Light, to be wrought in the d104ure Of the Paper itfelf; thefe Letters appear to fink equally both on the Faces and Backs of the Bills, and are equally tranfparent, whereas in the forged Bills they appear to fink into the Paper only on the Face of them, as if done with a ftamp, after the Paper was made, and appear a little raifed on the Backs of the Bills. In the good Bills the firft double Stroke Of the W wrought in the paper to the left Hand is wider where it joins the middle Stroke than it is at the Top; but in the Counterfeits thefe double Strokes are at equal Diftances, and nearer each other. The Tops and Bottoms of the T and W ftand exa&ly fquare and even with each other in the good Bills, but in the forged the right Hand Corner of the Top of the T is generally raifed above the Top of the W and finks a little to the left Hand. The Bars or white Water Strokes, Obfervable in all Writing Paper, which runs down from the Tops to the Bottoms of thefe Bills, are a little more than the tenth Part of an inch wider from each other in the good than they are in the forged Bills. The Counterfeits Of 1769 appear to have been made on a different Paper; they all have the broad Entablature of Feather; the Bars or white Water Strokes above defcribed in thefe are near a quarter. Of an inch wider than in the true Bills. Nearly the fame Remarks may be made of thele in Refpeé't to the T W as on the fame Letters in the other Emiffion, both as to the double Strokes of the W and the Situation of both Letters in Relation to each other; but it is very Obfervable that the left Corner of the W comes very near to the Bars or white Strokes running down the Bill in the Counterfeits, but in the genuine Bills the fame Corner is at a greater Diftance from the Bar or Water Stroke.

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