There was an emission, five or ten years ago, of some counterfeits on the
National Bank, Providence, 2s and 5s. They were not regularly-engraved
plates; and as the exact process by which they were got up is unknown,
they are supposed to be anastatic transfers, or lithographs. They have a
very _smoky_, brown, blurred, and _indistinct_ appearance, something
similar, but inferior to, mezzotinto engraving. It is supposed that the
process, whatever it was, did not succeed well enough, as there never have
any appeared like them since. The shading of the letters appeared to be a
solid brown coloring--no lines perceptible scarcely, and this was the
character of the engraving of the whole note.
The new counterfeit tens on the State Bank of Ohio are exceedingly well
done, though easily detected by the Rules. One kind--that with an X in the
center of the vignette--appears to be a lithograph, a transfer from the
genuine bill; but the impression produced appears to have been faint and
dim in many places, and re-touched with _a graver_;--thus easily detected
on examination, although very dangerous counterfeits.