Counterfeit $10 dos caritas

On 27 January 1915 de la Garza sent Navarro, at Norris Peters, a counterfeit $10 note (series number 249481) and asked for the firm’s comments^{LG papers, 6-D-37, letter from de la Garza, El Paso, to Navarro, Washington, 27 January 1915. De la Garza had also seen counterfeit $5 notes}. A week later Navarro replied that the note was lithographed (hecho en piedra) and poorly done. It was obviously false at first sight, but even more differences were visible under a magnifying glass. The experts in Washington thought that the Government Palace and the figures around it were the only part that was exactly the same as on a genuine note, so they were of the opinion that the image of the Palace had been taken from the original stone (which was in Navarro's possession) or that the person who made the plate stole or, rather, possessed a similar one. They based this opinion on the fact that the images such as the car, people and shades kept the same relative distances as on the genuine notes, a difficult feat to copy^{LG papers, 6-E-7, letter from Navarro, Washington, to de la Garza, El Paso, 3 February 1915}.

This is probably the same counterfeit that de la Garza wrote to Vargas about in February 1915. The differences that de la Garza noted, and marked up, on his example in his letter to Vargas were

GENUINE	COUNTERFEIT
“X” open (abierto)	“X” closed (cerrado abajo)
secret printer’s marks
	strokes of the 'E' are larger (Las rasgas de la E son mas largos en los nuestros)
	shadows of the ‘E S’ are different (Las sombras de las E.S son diferentes)
	has part of a star (El billete falso tiene parte de una estrella el nuestro no la tiene)
figura touches the figuras above	space between figuras
triangles are larger and ray clearer (Los triangulos son mas grandes en el nuestro y el rayado mas claro)
IE’ separate (En nuestros billetes la IE estan separadas y en los falsos juntos formando lo negro una O)	‘‘IE’ joined, so black forms an ‘O’
	Shadows of ‘A’ different (Las sombras de la A son distintas)
figura touches side	space
(la linea recta casi hasta arriba de la Estrella y hace curva)	line is curved
sal la curva donde acaba la linea	esta metido debajo de dicha linea
three decorations in the ‘10’ are larger and different (Las tres figuras en el 10. en nuestro billete son mas largas y diferentes en todo al falso)
(dos manchas blancas. y la raya negra llegar casi a tocar la otra y hace curva el recta)
Detail separated from the circle of the ‘10’ (En nuestro billete sal la curva donde acaba la linea en el falso esta metido debajo de dicha linea)	Detail touches the circle
(La X esta separada y la sombra hace una linea recta y depues quiebra recta)	(quiebra con curva)
the shading of the letters is unbroken, without gaps (Las sombras de todas las letras son diferentes, las nuestras son seguidas y casi sin espacios, los falsos tienen muchos espacios)	the shading had many gaps
	Chao’s signature different
(limpia)	(la j tiene una linea que mas bien parece un rasgo de la o)
	Portraits and portraits’ shading different (Las sombras de los retratos y aun los mismos retratos son diferentes)
Two (Esta figura en el nuestro tiene dos el falso tiene tres)	Three
(Son diferentes y todo el rayado de diez pesos es diferente en el nuestro puedes notar las sombras de las letras en el falso no.)
Background on reverse does not touch sides but leaves a white space (el rayado o fondo en los nuestros no toca con las lados y deja un espacio blanco el falso toca)	Background touch sides

whilst Vargas' instructions to Saravia, dated 6 February, gave the following^{ADUR, gaveta 6, nombre 88}:

The other contemporary comment was from Navarro.

Again there are differences in the Madero portrait. Types1-4 are genuine printings, whilst Types 5-8 are counterfeit

Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4: smoother nose
Type 5	Type 6	Tpe 7	Type 8

and differences in the González portrait. Again Types1-4 are genuine printings, whilst Types 5-8 are counterfeit

Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4
Type 5	Type 6	Type 7	Type 8