The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-08
NEW o. SILVER CERTIFICATES.
The abandonment Hills Ever Eeut Out
from tho Treasury.

The lIandaOMeat Bllls Ever Eeut Dat
from the Treasury.
WASHINGTON, Sept. The most beau
tiful piece Of p money ever produced
by the United States TREASURY ID the new %
silver certificate, frat proofs Of which on
cardboard are shown privately at the bu-
reau or engraving and printing. They were
endorsed on the margin in Secretary Fos-
ter's handwriting as Approved" 1t 10 not
true, rs has been reported, that new de-
signs have been adopted for the certificates
mainly because there 10 a plausible counter
felt of the present one in circulation. This
the change 10 made chiefly for the reason
that the face Of the old bill is not salts
factory, and it is thought just as well
to substitute n new picture ut the same
time with the Introduction Of the
distinctive paper. The portrait on the face
Of the present certificate Of Gen. Hancock
is not we'll adapted to its purpose in the ar
rangement of light and shade. After pass
ing through a few hands 1t gets dim and Is
practically effaced. Paper money OF small
denominations requires more careful ex- |
ecution than large bills, as 1t must go
through more wear and tear.
The new %two-dollar certiicatei is really n
work of art. In tho middle Of it's face is an
oval portrait of Secretary Window, with
his name, which, in lifalike resemblance to
y oIlAlliulS ~ AIAOAu0tANAc ~ NAv pAS pAo I
duction Of the sort on treasury securities.
The rest of the design consists of the con-
ventional legend gracefully drawn in let
tering. with a figure 2 in each corner. The
back is q wonder. Nothing so elaborate in
geometrio lathe, which ia the despair Of the
in the manufacture of paper money
The counterfeiter will find this
new certificate q more difficult
subject for imitation than any he has yet
encountered. Look at the complicated
concentric and eccentric devices on the re-
verse side of any United States note or GER
~titicate, considering that they can be repro
duced only by arduous copying Of engraving
by hand. and the difficulties will be appre-
The back of the new certificate is
engraved with a view to showing as con.
spiouously as possible the two stripes of
silk fiber, each about as wide as ones
thumb, that run across the paper on which
the designs described are to be printed,
dividing the length Of each bill into three
are left white. In the middle is an
oval containing a legend, on each side of
is an elaborate piece of lathe work,
with a big figure "2'' in the center and little
'2s'' scattered about at points where the
lines converge. There are other features OF
the design, including some very, difhcuit
lettering, which are intended to en-
barrass the counterfeiter
A ream of the distinctive paper at the
department was exhibited. 1t
looked somewhat like a fine quality of note
paper, foolscap size. with two bands of
scattered red and blue 6bres run
ming through from top to bottom. Each
sheet was intended for the printing of four
certificates or notes. The fibres are merely
threads, bought from a New York i'm
firm by the contractor who works
for the treasury, cut in lengths of a quarter
of an inch, and run through the paper
sheets. No little difficulty was found at
first IN making the process satisfactory,
and the government pays somewhat more
for the material than it used to for the
plain article.