Watch List notes:

Heath, Laban [American Bond and Currency Detector Company]. THE AMERICAN BOND DETECTOR; AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT SECURITIES; ISSUED UNDER THE SANCTION OF THE UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT, AND CONTAINING SUPERB ILLUSTRATIONS, IN GENUINE TINTS, PRINTED AT THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT, FROM THE ORIGINAL DIES IN THE POSSESSION OF THE GOVERNMENT, OF ALL THE BONDS ISSUED UNDER THE ACTS OF CONGRESS FROM JULY 17, 1861, TO MARCH 3, 1868, TOGETHER WITH A FULL DESCRIPTION OF ALL GENUINE PLATES, AND COMPLETE RULES FOR THE DETECTION OF COUNTERFEITS; ALSO, VALUABLE PLATES OF EXISTING COINS, AND IMPORTANT STATISTICAL TABLES. Washington, D.C.: Published by the American Bond and Currency Detector Company, to whom all orders should be addressed, 1869. Title verso: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1869, by Nehemiah George Ordway, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the District of New-Hampshire. First edition. Oblong folio [24 by 34.5 cm], original maroon cloth; upper cover impressed in gilt with elaborate title design; same design impressed in blind on rear cover. (6), 100 pages; 22 superb steel-plate intaglio plates, several printed in two colors, of United States bonds and design elements [Plate 18 printed in red and black]; 9 handsome plates on thick stock printed by J. Haehnlen, depicting American and foreign coins in relief and in metallic tints on a maroon background. Binding lightly rubbed; slight marginal discoloration; near fine. The only work of its kind ever published. Laban Heath had high hopes for the project, ordering 5,000 sets of the 22 plates from the Treasury Department Printing Bureau and later increasing the number by an additional 10,000. Had it not been for political intrigue and actual sabotage (well chronicled in Eric P. Newman's work on Heath and his counterfeit detectors, published in the 1991 ANA Centennial Anthology), this work would presumably be widely available today. The introduction hints at the problems by stating: "but a limited number of engravings from the original dies (sufficient only for this edition) have been printed," and that, "by a recent change in the law, no more can be printed from the Government plates at the Treasury Department." Two of the bond plates depict a counterfeit $1,000 Coupon Bond, front and back; one depicts distilled spirits, beer, cigar, and Internal Revenue stamps; the remainder of the plates depict genuine bonds, some combining design elements from different denominations. One plate is printed in red; five in green and black; and the remainder in black only, with one exception: Plate 18, which here is present printed in red and black though it is also encountered in green and black. Only a very small number of copies of the book were ultimately issued and most, as here, feature the name of Nehemiah George Ordway on the copyright notice (some copies bear the name of John P. Dale). The work has, consequently, sometimes been attributed to him. Newman's research suggests, however, that Heath was the likely author. Certainly, Ordway and Heath worked in tandem for years on the latter's counterfeit detectors and Newman confirms that Ordway was deeply involved in the bond detector project. A native of New Hampshire, Ordway (1828–1907), served as state chairman for the Republican party during Abraham Lincoln's bid for the presidency in 1860. In 1862, he was appointed General Agent of the Post Office Department for the New England states and he subsequently served as Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. from 1875 until 1880. His career in government ended badly. In 1883, while serving as the seventh Governor of Dakota Territory, Ordway was indicted on corruption charges and he was removed from office the following year by President Chester A. Arthur. Clain-Stefanelli 13461. Sigler 72. Ex Eric P. Newman Library; ex Kolbe & Fanning Sale 152, lot 206.