New counterfeits.
The
Atlanta (Ga.) Confederacy gives a description of some new $100 bills, counterfeits of Hoyer &
Ludwig's plate.
They are not the same set afloat some time since.
In a package of $4,000, presented at a bank in
Atlanta by a respectable merchant, $1,500 were in these bad bills.
The
Confederacy says.
‘
The previous counterfeits were not the same
size of the genuine, and could be detected by
measurement, as we described; but there now base issues are so nearly the same size that measurement cannot be applied as a test.
There are, however, several points about them which a careful observer can detect.
First.
On the left hand end of the bills is a sailor standing up; and above his head is a shield on which the following words are inscribed.
‘"Receivable in payment of all dues except export dues,"’ in the genuine the lower point of this shield is about the 16th part of an inch
above the sailor's hat. In the counterfeit the point of the shield is
imperfect; the
point is not made.
If perfect, it would come down lower than the top of the hat. In the genuine the point is nearly over the centre of the sailor's head — a little to the left; in the counterfeit, the point of the shield (if it had the point) would be over the left hand side of the sailor's hat
brim, or near where the brim joins the crown of the hat. This defect in the point of the shield, and its being placed further
to the left of the sailor's head, and extending lower down, and not directly
above the head as in the genuine, is the most prominent mark of distinction.
The wagon wheel this time has the proper number of spokes, and they are dim and dark like the genuine — only a little more so; not light and finely executed, like the former counterfeit.
The mule attached to the cotton press is also dim, and more indistinct than the former counterfeit, and the harness cannot be seen, but he is not quite so much
blurred as the genuine.
In the genuine the left hand hind wheel of the wagon has the spokes centering to the hub,
at the corner of the wagon bed or body, In the counterfeit the hub appears to be
behind the bed and out of sight — the point where the spokes converge at the hub or exile being concealed from the view by the bed of the wagon.
The signatures are a quick test to those who know and have the run of all of them; but only bankers, or men who handle money largely, can make this a test.
We may say, however, that nearly all of them appear to be forgeries at once, to a practiced eye. They are cramped and bear evidence of being slowly written, in order the better to imitate the genuine.
They are in a heavier hand and blacker ink. A man skilled in such matters can see at once that they are written by an
effort, and not by a free, easy,
natural hind.
We have seen only one counter sit fifty, though several of them have been detected in this city.--They are also a superior imitation of the genuine; so perfect are they that we are unable to discover any striking points of dissimilarity — none that we can describe which the common reader can understand, save perhaps one.
The bill before us is signed ‘"
A. W. Gray, for Treasurer."’ The word ‘"for"’ is in small common italics, and ‘"Treasurer"’ is in small capitals, thus; ‘"
for Treasurer."’ In the counterfeit, the hair line on which the signature is written passes across the ‘"
f "’ in the word ‘"
for."’ and touches the tops of the letters ‘"
or."’--In the genuine, the word ‘"
for"’ is below the line on which the signature is written.
It crosses the upper portion of the ‘"
f, "’ but does not touch the ‘"
or"’ being
above them.
This is the only distinction we are able to describe that we think can be comprehended by readers generally.
The mallet is made black, the sailor's disheveled hair is smoothed down, the handle on the iron box is right, and the woman's head is in the right place.
All the points of difference are remedied, so that only an experienced person can detect them by their general appearance.
Now, what are the people to do!
We advise them to refuse every 20, 50, and 100 of the Hoyer &
Ludwig plates.
The Government has sailed for them.
Let them be sent in and no more circulated.
’
