TESORERÍA GENERAL DEL ESTADO – 14

     The data collected here is certainly NOT complete.  It is included to make a start in appreciating the problem of counterfeiting during the Mexican Revolution.

 

     Counterfeiting of Villa’s Tesorería General del Estado notes was rampant during the revolution.  Their relatively simple design made them an ideal target for counterfeiters.  The law of Villista Chihuahua mandated immediate execution of those found in possession of counterfeit notes or materials to make them.  It was applied with vigor.  A great deal of time was expended by experts from the General Treasury at Chihuahua in travelling all over northern and central Mexico, examining notes and removing the bogus ones from circulation.  Even so, large numbers of counterfeit notes were mistakenly validated for further circulation and never detected.  The problems faced by the Chihuahua experts persist for the modern collector.

 

     Descriptions of counterfeit notes were printed and distributed from time to time through El Periódico Oficial del Estado de Chihuahua, the Villista newspaper dedicated to reporting on the actions of the government.  There can be little doubt that the fragmentary records we have of counterfeit Chihuahua paper money are incomplete, but this is a start.  The points of detection presented below come from three specific issues of this publication, plus the contents of a telegram from the Treasurer General.

 

          Ref. I.  Periódico Oficial, Chihuahua, 22 March 1914

          Ref. II.  Periódico Oficial, Guanajuato, 10 December 1914

          Ref. III.  Periódico Oficial, Guanajuato, 27 December 1914

          Ref. IV.  Telegram from Jesús Ramos, Treasurer General of the State,

                       30 January 1915

 

     Only the major characteristics of counterfeit notes are outlined herein. You will need a low-powered magnifying glass to detect many of the elements of counterfeit notes.

CONTEMPORARY COUNTERFEITS

Genuine

Counterfeit

     The signatures, above, always begin with a point or dot before the “S”.  In genuine signatures, this dot is ALWAYS above the base-line of the signature.  If the dot is at or below the base-line, the signature is counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

     b.  M. Chao, Interventor

     The genuine signature of Manuel Chao ALWAYS has a period after the letter “M”.  The flourish beneath the signature ALWAYS ends in a horizontal thickening of the line.  Signatures without a period after the letter “M”, and signatures with a ball-like thickening at the end of the flourish are counterfeit.  Defects in printing, such as “under-inking” or worn plates, can produce genuine signatures that do not look like the well-printed ones above.  This complicates the collectors’ attempts to determine whether of not the signature is genuine.

Genuine

Counterfeit – NO period.

Counterfeit – “ball” flourish

2. Frames.

     All of the Tesorería General notes have black frames that enclose the body of the note.  In genuine notes there a gaps at the corners of the frames.  If the frame corners don’t exhibit gaps, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. I & II)

Genuine

Counterfeit

Gaps             NO Gaps

General Characteristics:

 

1.  Signatures.

     a.  S. Vargas hijo, Tesorero General del Estado.

3.  Treasury seals.

Genuine

Counterfeit

     With the exception of the 10 centavos notes and the later series of 25 centavos notes (Serie AA, BB, CC, and DD), all genuine notes of the Tesorería General issues are presently believed to have been hand stamped with a large rubber stamp seal.  The resulting seals are almost always incomplete, blurred, or lacking detail.  Those notes which have a crisp and well-defined treasury seal are believed to have been overprinted using an engraved metal plate, and as such are counterfeit.  (Ref. I & II)

     There are a number of experienced collector who believe that the metal-plate overprint of the treasury seal appears on GENUINE notes.  They reject the assertions of References I and II that only rubber stamp seals were used on genuine notes.

4.  Underprinting.

     All denominations of the Tesorería General del Estado issues, beginning with the 25 centavos notes, are underprinted with regular-sized dots in a symmetrical pattern. 

If the dots are irregular and/or do not form a symmetrical pattern, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

Genuine

Counterfeit

Denomination-specific Characteristics:

1.  1 peso.  Underprinting.

     The light green underprint has the words “….Un Peso….” printed across the note in a series of lines.  In genuine notes, the underprinting of “Un Peso” is of uniform type and size across the note.  Notes in which the right end of the third line of the underprint has the “S” of “PESO” inverted are counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

5.  Watermarked Paper.

     Reference II states that 1 peso notes watermarked “HAMMER BOND” are counterfeit.  It is unfortunate that no information seems to survive concerning the use of watermarked papers in the production of the Tesorería General del Estado issues.  A search of the collections of Mr. Simon C. Prendergast and myself found watermarked notes in almost every denomination, but we could not identify any notes watermarked “HAMMER BOND”.  Known Watermarks.

2.  5 pesos.  Printing errors.

     a.  In the line reading “El Presente es Valido, Al Portador, Por” the “O’s” of genuine notes are open at the top.  If the “O’s” are closed at the top, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

     b.  In the line reading “Chihuahua, 10 de diciembre de 1913.” there is a comma after the word “Chihuahua”, and the period following “1913” is elongated.  If the comma after the word “Chihuahua” is absent, or if the elongated period following “1913” is round or absent, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

     c.  In the line reading “Gobernador Provisional del Estado,” there is a comma after the word “Estado”.  If the comma following the word “Estado” is absent, or if the word “Estado” is misspelled “Estada”, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

3.  10 pesos.

     a.  Underprinting.  The letter “D” in the words “DIEZ PESOS” which are repeated throughout the underprint, are all of the same type size and style in genuine notes.  If a letter “D” appears in the underprint which is of different size or style from other letters “D”, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

     b.  Printing Errors

          1)  In the line reading “El Presente es Valido, Al Portador, Por”, if the final “R” in the word “Por” is larger than the rest of the lower case letters in this line, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

          2)  In the line reading “Chihuahua, 10 de diciembre de 1913.”, the “1” of the number “10” has serifs on all genuine notes.  If the “1” of the number “10” has no serifs (e.g. “ l ”), the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

          3)  The word “Serie” followed by the appropriate letter is 5 mm. high.  A note of “Serie A” which has letters taller than 5 mm. high, and of a different type face is counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

          4)  The abbreviation of the word “Numero”, either “Num” or “No” ALWAYS has a period following the abbreviation in genuine notes.  If the period following the abbreviation is absent, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

          5)  In one variety of counterfeit, the serial number digits are irregularly printed.  If the first digit of the serial number is poorly printed, and only the first half of the serial number is readable, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. II)

     Notes of Serie B were long believed to be genuine only if a small “X” appeared at the upper and lower left corner of the underprinted dot pattern. (See example below, right.) Previously, those 10 pesos notes of Serie B which did not have an “X” at the upper and lower left corners of the underprint, were believed to be counterfeit.  There is solid evidence, now, that such is not the case. 

 

     Genuine Series B notes without the “X” were produced with serial numbers up to at least 14303.  Series B notes with the letter “X” appear in later serial numbers, beginning about 42000.

Both GENUINE!

3.  10 pesos.  (Continued)

     a.  Underprinting.  (Continued)

          6)  The back of genuine 10 pesos notes has straight vertical lines passing through the “S” of the “$” symbol.  The lines are slender and without ornament.  If these lines are thick and end in “globes”, or thin on the right and thick on the left, or both lines are thick, with the right one longer than the left the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

4.  20 pesos.  Printing Errors.

     a.  On genuine notes the “S” of the word “Serie” has ornamented serifs, as shown right.  If the serifs are absent, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

     b.  In the line reading “El Presente es Valido, Al Portador, Por”, the “O’s” of genuine notes are open at the top.  If the “O’s” in this line are closed, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

     c.  In the line reading “Gobernador Provisional del Estado,”, genuine notes have a comma after the word “Estado“.  If the comma after the word “Estado“ is absent, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. II & IV)

     d.  On the back of the 20 pesos notes, there are horizontal lines above and below the words “VEINTE PESOS – $20 – VEINTE PESOS”.  On genuine notes, the lines are crisp and clear.  If these lines are smudged, blotted, or indistinct, the note is counterfeit.  (Ref. IV)

5.  50 pesos.  Printing Errors.