How Ben Franklin helped foil early American money counterfeiters

[Mackaydon]

How Benjamin Franklin Helped Foil Early American Money Counterfeiters

Scientists identified specific pigments, minerals and fibers used in the bills.

www.wsj.com

Don in SoCal.

 

[fishstick]

It wouldn't let you read it unless you sub them, atleast on my end . Bet it's a good read!!!

 

[Ocean7]

yeah I got same access problem. So lo and behold, I just saw this same type article.
How Benjamin Franklin laid groundwork for the US dollar by foiling early counterfeiters
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/how-benjamin-franklin-laid-groundwork-for-the-us-dollar-by-foiling-early-counterfeiters/3605946/

One very interesting paragraph states:
"The Revolutionary War, however, brought on such a surge of counterfeiting — much of it provided by the British army — that the new United States government shunned paper bills in favor of coinage for decades. It didn't reconsider until the onset of the Civil War in 1861, when the federal government first authorized the printing of dollar bills called “greenbacks.”

Hence so many lost coins to be found from that period.