Featured Roman Imperial coin lettering

Very nice coins @bcuda. They both illustrate the “open bowl” P (not touching the vertical stroke) that was often used by stone cutters at this time.

 

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I, like most Calligraphers, keep exemplar files of my “roughs” (renditions used to check the layout, quality of letterforms, nib sharpness, ink flow …………… and so on). These “roughs” sometimes contain mistakes and show deficiencies in letterform construction. Nevertheless I dug up this rough of a hand out that I prepared for one of my classes. Just FYI:

 

Great coins and beautiful writing skills @jamesicus!

I like the letter style on this bronze:

 

Great coin and wonderful lettering @Limes - thanks.

 

I have always thought that Claudian asses in particular have very good lettering:

 

Here is the rough of a student handout I prepared relating to the letterform renderings by the Julio-Claudian die engravers:




Sestertius of Claudius

 

I posted a link to the E-Sylum weekly email of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. They are a group that others here may like to know about. Membership is the NBS is not required to receive the email.

E-Sylum here
https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum/index.html

Numismatic Bibliomania Society here
https://www.coinbooks.org/index.html

 

I have only just come across this fascinating thread.
This dupondius has the open P's you referred to .
Is there a reason for this stylistic querk ?


Caligula. For Nero and Drusus. Rome, 37-38 AD. AE dupondius, 12.05 g. RIC 34

And this one has a closed P in S.P.Q.R. but open P's in AGRIPPINAE

Agrippina Senior, mother of Gaius Sestertius RIC 55

 

Great coins with some gorgeous lettering @eparch! I have not run across a good explanation for the “P” anomaly. My theory is that the open bowl letterform was employed when the lettering became “crowded” - not sure exactly why.

 

Over time I developed a great love for rendering Capitalis Monumentalis lettering - it is very satisfying and pleasurable for me. Several years ago I was a member of “Southern Arizona Scribes” a very active and well run Calligraphy club. Individual members frequently organized small “get-togethers” (including a light refreshment break) at their homes to discuss specialized subjects such as gilding, paper making, etc. There was only passing interest in Majuscule lettering, but I seized on the opportunity to offer one of those “get-togethers” devoted to one of my favorite pursuits. I was being somewhat devious though - developing an interest in Ancient coins was also on my agenda - I wanted to recruit some enthusiasts that might become coin show “buddies” - I didn’t know of any other Ancient coin collectors/enthusiasts here at that time.

So, I composed and distributed the following flyer:



Well, only two people showed up! I guess it served me right for being devious!



The presentation went well although neither participant became an ancient coin enthusiast - they were not even tempted by some nice Sestertii - but we enjoyed the over abundant refreshments: cheap red (claret) wine ala. Horace Rumpole and some pretty good Wensleydale cheese with water biscuits.

 

By the time of the Tetrarchy the quality of much of the Coin lettering had deteriorated significantly:


…………… the letter “P” and “O” on the reverse are very ugly and poorly formed in my opinion.

 

Following is a copy of a student hand-out that illustrates the pen strokes and their order that I employ in rendering Capitalis Monumentalis letters - the order of the strokes is left to right and there is a pen lift at the end of each stroke. I thought I would include this in case anyone would like to try their hand at writing out some lettering similar to that found on first century Roman Imperial coins (I hope some CT visitors do this). Some may want to change the stroke order to suit their taste, but it is very important to maintain consistency in order to produce well formed letters.

 

I bought this Tiberius in part for the letter forms. I wouldn't have cared had it not been for some of James's posts on the topic.

 

Thank you for posting that handsome coin, Gavin - nice letterforms indeed.