10c notes of the Estado de Sonora

(This section is the result of research by Robert Perigoe. The information originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of the Journal of the U. S. Mexican Numismatic Association).

10c - Position A - Mountain seal 1

10c - Position B - Mountain seal 5

10c - Position C - Mountain seal 2

10c - Position D - Mountain seal 4

This issue marked the final appearance of the mountain seals that had previously been utilized on the pesos series. Below are the five different seals as they appeared in the contemporary revenue stamps. The printing on the revenue stamps is complicated by obscuring black printing of words and borders, and somewhat further by intruding coloured backgrounds which can be easily ignored. The good news in the illustration is that the printing of the seals on the stamps is much clearer than on the currency.

The distinguishing features of the five Types follow (the illustrations are all from the one peso notes).

Type 1		Thick ray leading from the bottom of the Liberty Cap and pointing to the leftmost mountain Two long parallel ripples at the bottom of the water at 6 o’clock.
Type 2		Spots in the two large rays to the right of the vertical ray at the centre Long ripple one third of the way down and centre-left in the water The middle mark on the Liberty Cap is circular and joined to the dash-shaped mark at the right.
Type 3		An enclosed colourless circle in the water near the outer edge at 7 o’clock Diagonal scratches in the water, one third of the way down and central right Diagonal lines on the lower right of the rightmost mountain On the Liberty Cap, the left and middle marks are almost rectangular and at the same level.
Type 4		A circular notch in the water at the outer edge at 7 o’clock Two other colourless spots in line with this notch to the right and downward At least one colourless spot in the horizontal lines above the shoreline.
Type 5		A circular notch in the outer edge, or an enclosed colourless circle by the outer edge, of the water between 6 and 7 o’clock A vertical scratch from 1:30 towards 5:00 (The dark spot circled in the illustration is not part of the seal, but a stray spot from the black printing.)

In this issue, mountain seal Type 1 appears in Position A (Top), Type 5 in Position B (Upper Middle),Type 2 in Position C (Lower Middle), and Type 4 in Position D (Bottom). Research suggests an initial setting of 25 print runs of 100 sheets, followed by a second setting of 20 runs of 500 sheets. Thus

0001 0002 0003 … 1000
1001 1002 1003 … 2000
2001 2002 2003 … 3000
3001 3002 3003 … 4000

4001 4002 4003 … 5000
5001 5002 5003 … 6000
6001 6002 6003 … 7000
7001 7002 7003 … 8000

to

96001 96002 96003 … 97000
97001 97002 97003 … 98000
98001 98002 98003 … 99000
99001 99002 99003 ..100000

and then

10001 10002 10003 … 10500
10501 10502 10503 … 11000
11001 11002 11003 … 11500
11501 11502 11503 … 11200

to

48001 48002 48003 … 48500
48501 48502 48503 … 49000
49001 49002 49003 … 49500
49501 49502 49503 ... 50000

Print Positions

There are several other ways to identify the four positions, and if remainders or replacement notes are ever encountered, they are the only choice.

The Randall signature is positioned differently relative to the corner on each position, in the same print positions as occurred in the five centavos notes, and the differentiation is not repeated here.

The kind of X and circle background printing encountered on the reverse of the five centavos note is found on both sides of this note. In fact, the reverse of the ten centavos note has the same characteristics as the reverse of the five centavos, and the print position can be determined in the same way. Only the ink colour is different.

The front of the ten centavos provides additional positional identification clues. Once again, all X and circles are type B unless indicated below.

Position A displays no cross aberrations on its back. On the front, on the other hand, the top row is a typesetter’s dream, using three of the four types of background crosses (missing Type L).

Identified types are highlighted with green dots in the illustration below. They are very difficult to identify at the left of the note. On the right, partially obscured by the large number 10, there are four of the routine type B crosses. But peeking over the large Sonora there are six of the type T crosses. Perhaps the design elements were spilled and then inserted randomly. This may appear to be bizarre, but it pales in comparison to the machinations that followed in many stamp issues and those who study them.

On the front of Position B, cross Type R can be found in the third row from the top, at the far right.

 On the front of Position C, cross type R appears in the sixth row from the top and sixth column from the right.

On the front of Position D, cross type R can be found in the sixth row down and fifth column from the left, if the mountain seal allows it to be seen.

In summary, the four positions can be distinguished thus: