Bank of Canada (1820) Counterfeit Note

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

This is probably another question for Bob...

This note is listed in the Charlton Catalogue as 70-10-15C (Counterfeit).  This specific note is indeed the Charlton plate note for this catalogue number.

I'm just wondering what evidence exists that this is actually a counterfeit note?  The engraving looks very detailed though obviously done by hand or with primitive tools.  I have no idea what an authentic banknote from the 1820s is supposed to look like though or what inaccuracies might give it away as a counterfeit.

The signatures look remarkably accurate when compared to the 70-10-14 plate note but hard to compare without a better photo of that note.  I apologize for the slightly blurry photograph.

It's better to concentrate on the engraving, not the signatures.  The forgers were often very good at copying manuscript signatures accurately.  The engraving is inferior to the genuine, but not noticeably so, apart from the curved "Payable at...." which is poorly done.  The easy giveaway is the spelling mistake, Mechanick's.  Just to elaborate on the engraving a little, the end panels have lots of rows of little circles, which are fairly straight, uniform in size, and evenly spaced on the genuine, but not as well done on the counterfeit.  The clouds etc. are also not copied exactly.  I'll try to get back to you with some pictures if I can get my computer to work properly.

OK, things seem to be working again so I'll try to attach pictures.

Ahhh, yes the difference is obvious between your two pictures.  The lion engraving is really poor in the counterfeit.  I did notice that the little circles were uneven but didn't know if that's the way they were supposed to be or not.

I'll have to take a better look at mine to see how it compares to your counterfeit closeup since my photo is too out of focus in that area.