Very coarsely lithographed, on yellowish white wove paper; imperf. The imitation of the engine-turning in the background is poor, all the white lines being very irregular, and of all thicknesses; and the black parts between the intersections of the white lines are very large. The figures of value do not stand well out from the background, although they seem much whiter than in the genuine stamps. There is a coarse outline following the shaded parts of each figure, and the spaces between figure and outline are perfectly white, with no trace of the engine-turning. Immediately inside the inmost line of the ornamental frame there is a sort of chain-pattern running right round the stamp, which is not to be seen in the originals; and inside this again, behind the figures, are three concentric ovals of double black lines, which are intended to represent the darker parts of the engine-turning in the originals.

The forgeries are postmarked RIO DE JANEIRO in large capitals, in a large double circle. A very similar postmark is often to be found on the genuine. I think I have said enough to show that these vermin are not likely to be at all dangerous.

Thin, irregularly made, white wove paper; groundwork of design composed of dots; figures of value very coarse, and only partially outlined in some of the values. The dotted groundwork of the forgeries will always afford instant means for their detection, so that it is scarcely necessary to take each stamp and describe it; but there are many points of difference in the numerals. For instance, in the forged 10 Reis, the figure I is very blunt at the top and bottom; whereas, in the original, both are sharply pointed. The same holds good with the 180 Reis. In the 300 Reis, the center loop of the 3 is unfinished, instead of being carried round to touch the outline of the lower limb, as in the genuine.

The paper of these forgeries is not always the same; for we have seen the 10 and 20 Reis on laid. Usually, however, they are on paper similar to the forgeries of the italic set. Sometimes they are printed very faintly, so as to appear grey, instead of black; but the majority are very dark and “smudgy”. The crucial test for these, as for the other set, is that the background is of dots, instead of lines. The right hand side of the foot of the figure in the 10 R., projects beyond the thick-shaded downstroke; whereas, in the genuine, the foot does not even touch the outer line. The top half of the 3 in the 30 R. is larger than the bottom; but in the genuine, the lower limb is the larger of the two. The center of the 6 in the 60 R. is a kidney-shaped blotch, instead of being a shaded oval. The tail of the 9 in the 90 R. is very thick where the final loop commences; and in the genuine, the part of the tail nearest the final loop is the thinnest part of the whole figure. The 8 in the 180 R. is very much taller than the figures on each side of it; in the genuine, all three are the same height. In the 300 R., the lower limb of the 3 is rather below the other two figures; and in the genuine, it is the upper limb which projects slightly above the other two. The same may be said of the 6 in the 600 R.

The paper is similar to that of the other forgeries; the colours are in shades of ultramarine; the ground-work is composed of blue dots and scratches.

The forgeries are almost all obliterated with 18 thick oblique bars, forming a large oval; but we have seen one or two cancelled with a date-stamp very like one of our own, containing some unreadable letters and figures.

Lithographed. The paper is a trifle thinner than the genuine, and is rather whiter. The stamp itself is very poorly done, and instead of the fine engine-turning, there is a sort of oval chain- pattern round the central figures; the rest of the oval being filled in with wavy lines. There is no thickness of ink. The chain-pattern outline does not touch the top of the frame; but, to make up for this, two of the scallops touch the frame at the bottom, under the 8. The centers of the 8 and of the 0 are very lightly shaded. In the right-hand bottom corner there are only twelve horizontal lines, but on the left we find eleven or twelve, because the twelfth is not very conspicuous. It is printed a pale, washy orange, vermilion in the eyes of Messrs. Spiro.