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While lathe work and that of the ruling engine are invariably machine work, and therefore cannot be successfully reproduced by counterfeiters, the Vignettes are chiefly the work of the hands. In all genuine work they are made by first class artists, who are well paid for their services, and who therefore have no incentive to exercise their skill for illegitimate purposes.

Sometimes water and sky are done with the ruling engine, and when they are, no counterfeiter can successfully imitate them. Fine vignettes are seldom seen on counterfeit notes. If the lathe and ruling engine work be genuine, an ordinary vignette cannot make a note counterfeit, and if that be counterfeit, no vignette can make the note genuine.

The vignettes on genuine notes are executed by men at the head of their vocation, and are very life-like and beautiful. Counterfeit vignettes usually have a sunken and lifeless appearance. Genuine vignettes, as seen upon government issues, consist of out-door scenes, portraits, historical pictures, and allegorical figures. They are all exceedingly beautiful, and it is not likely that such work will ever be successfully imitated.