Counterfeit $5 dos caritas

The differences that de la Garza listed in his letter of 6 February 1915 were referenced to annotations that he made on the counterfeit examples. Without these it is difficult accurately to identify most of the points he raised (and even whether they referred to the $5 note, the $10 note, or both). The differences listed were:

GENUINE	COUNTERFEIT
'El Estado de Chihuahua’ banner touches portraits	banner is further from the portraits
secret printer’s marks
	strokes of the ‘E’ are larger
	shadows of the ‘E S’ are different
	has part of a star
figura touches the figuras above	space between figuras
triangles are larger and ray clearer
	shadows of ‘A’ different
figura touches the side	space between figura and side
(la linea recta casi hasta arriba de la Estrella y hace vurva)	line is curved
sal la curva donde acaba la linea	is below the line
the shading of the letters is unbroken, without gaps	the shading had many gaps
	Chao’s signature different
limpia	la j (of Vargas’ signature) tiene una linea que mas bien parece un rasgo de la o
	portraits and portraits’ shading different
two	three
background on reverse does not touch sides but leaves a white space	background touch sides

However, two types of counterfeit Series C notes are easy to recognise. There are several minor differences, but one particularly distinguishing feature is the relationship of the denomination ‘shield’ on the back to the line beneath the griffin. In the genuine notes the ‘shield’ flows into the line, on one set of counterfeits there is a distinct break, whilst on another the alignment is completely different.


Type 1	Type 2	Type 3

As for the portraits, there are various differences, though there are also differences amongst genuine notes. For Madero Types 1-3 are from genuine printings, whilst Types 4-5 are from counterfeits


Type 1	Type 2	Type 3

Type 4	Type 5	Type 6

Likewise, for González Types 1-3 are from genuine printings, whilst Types 4-5 are from counterfeits


Type 1	Type 2	Type 3

Type 4	Type 5	Type 6