Help identify this old device with coin slots?!?

zap1111

A student of mine is an intern for our city's historical society and she found this device, knew I was into coins and asked if I could help to identify it. I knew just where to post it!! The inscription appears to read McNally Inventor. The slots are for gold coins (1D, 2 1/2 D, 3D, 5D, 10D and the last is perhaps an unlabeled 20D, as well as slots for quarter, half and silver dollar. It also looks like it's intended to perhaps balance. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Have you seen one before? Any sources come to mind for more information on it? Thanks for the help.
zap

AngryTurtle

It is a counterfeit detector that measures the weight and size of gold coins. There are modern versions of this that I have seen on the web (sorry no links, but if you search you probably can find it).

STONE

It is an early counterfeit detection device, which looks to date to around 1860 +/- 10 years (I don't have an exact date, but I'm 90+% confident it was used for detecting counterfeits)

PTVETTER

that is kind of cool

zap1111

So I take it that they worked out the distance from the fulcrum at which each genuine coin would reside within its slot in order to have the arm balance level.

Very cool indeed. Thanks!

That was fast.
zap

TwoSides2aCoin

A beautiful piece of history. It would look good as decor in a coin shop, bar, restaurant or even a lawyer's office.

Lewy

Wow.........Super-Duper COOL Zap. What a treasure. I like that very, very much.

Weiss

From The Beauty and Lore of Coins, p.223 (Clain-Stefanelli, 1975)

Mercury10c

I read about those things but I've never seen one. Pretty neat.

291fifth

As others have said, it is a counterfeit detector.

Flatwoods

Now that everyone knows what it is, tell us the story.

Where did she "find" it? It appears to be very nicely preserved for it's age.
I assume it wasn't found in a junk box in a garage.

I'm bored! We need details man.

bsshog40

That's a pretty cool find. I've never seen anything like that before.

zap1111

Not much of a story so far. From my student:

"As the archivist at the Northfield Historical Society, I've been going through the materials of all types that have been lying around, waiting to be officially added to the collection. I came across this a while ago, but only recently got around to trying to figure out what exactly it was. I asked around at the museum, but nobody seemed to have much of an idea."

She's quite grateful to get the help from you all. I have a counterfeit CBH (and quite of few real ones) - I think I'll ask her to let me give it a try.
zap

mumu

Looks like an old hilarious refridgerator alarm to me.

lkeigwin

Yes, it is a counterfeit detector. There was a story, along with a photo, in a recent Coin World article. Just a few weeks ago.
Lance.

CaptHenway

<< <i>So I take it that they worked out the distance from the fulcrum at which each genuine coin would reside within its slot in order to have the arm balance level.

Very cool indeed. Thanks!

That was fast.
zap >>



The distance from the fulcrum determines the weight. The slot does a fast and dirty test of density. A base metal coin of the right weight would be too thick to fit in the slot. A base metal coin of the right thickness would fail the weight test, being too light.
TD

PerryHall

<< <i>

<< <i>So I take it that they worked out the distance from the fulcrum at which each genuine coin would reside within its slot in order to have the arm balance level.

Very cool indeed. Thanks!

That was fast.
zap >>



The distance from the fulcrum determines the weight. The slot does a fast and dirty test of density. A base metal coin of the right weight would be too thick to fit in the slot. A base metal coin of the right thickness would fail the weight test, being too light.
TD >>



Tom is correct. The slots verify that the diameter and thickness of the coin are correct while the balance scale verifies that the weight is correct These were used by bankers and merchants during the era when circulating base metal counterfeit coins were commonly in circulation. There were several dozen different designs that were patented and manufactured and they turn up on eBay quite frequently.