I have copy No. 34 of Gary Beals reprint. Apparently he did not read it all the way to the end, for in Concluding Remarks, (inking is weak here, though) Riddell explained his way of preparing the illustrations. He rejected the method of medal rule used by Eckfeldt and Dubois, because it "necessarily obliterates or distorts the more minutely engraven details . . . which details are sometimes essential in deciding whether a coin be good or bad. After many trials . . . I at length succeeded in preparing metal types adapted for printing, indirectly from the coins themselves . . ."

The original edition is printed on rectos only. My impression is, and I hope that George Kolbe or someone who possesses a copy of it, can confirm this, that it was run through the press twice: once in the usual manner for the text, and a second time for the illustrations, the metal type for the illustrations being BELOW the paper and the ink above, giving the "rubbing-like" appearance Gary mentions.

Riddell apologized for this: "if they do not always make a handsome print, give a perfectly correct . . . representation." In other words, in Monograph of the Silver Dollar you are looking at a slightly blurred image of the coin itself, not a drawing, and can pick out points for comparison with perfect confidence. While we could wish for better pictures, this is an amazing breakthrough in counterfeit detection.