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<p>[QUOTE="jamesicus, post: 3240131, member: 14873"]<font face="Times New Roman">A few points relating to terminology:</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">Italic (writing) is the term present day calligraphers and typographers use to describe the Cancery writing scripts (<i>Cancellaresca corsiva & formata</i>) formulated by the early 1500s Italian renaissance writing masters.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">The letterforms used in Roman coin inscriptions are based on the CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS letterforms of the Ancient Roman stone cutters and are well approximated by the present day Times New Roman typography font. </font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">I always convert the entire text of my CT posts to that font via the drop down menu choice at the top of the posting window in order to produce reasonable inscriptional lettering facsimiles.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">My handwritten rendition of CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS lettering (also in my avatar):</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><img src="http://jp29.org/cal235s.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">Roman Imperial coin inscriptional letterforms are based on those of <b>CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS</b> employed by stone cutters for edifices, monuments, tombstones, etc. A fine extant example is found on Trajan's column in Rome and the essential constructs of these letterforms are the models for all Majuscule (Capital) alphabets used in the western world. Stone cutters in particular still employ their distinctive proportions and terminating serifs. It should be noted that only twenty letters were normally used in the ancient Roman alphabet: <b>A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T V X</b>. Our modern <b>J</b> and <b>U</b> were not used, their equivalents being <b>I</b> and <b>V</b>respectively. Thus, our modern <b>JULIUS</b> was written <b>IVLIVS</b>. The letter <b>K</b> was seldom used and then only before <b>A</b>. The letters <b>Y</b> and <b>Z</b> were only used when reproducing Greek words. <b>W</b> was not part of the ancient Roman alphabet at all. It was Medieval scribes who formalized the construction models for the letters <b>J K U W Y Z</b>.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">There are numerous excellent photographs of actual CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS lettering (including that on Trajan's column) mostly accompanied by location information, translations and analyses, at <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Inscriptions/home.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Inscriptions/home.html" rel="nofollow">Bill Thayer's Latin Inscriptions section of his LacusCurtius web site</a></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">Although in general the inscriptional letterforms employed by Roman Imperial coin die engravers, particularly those of the early Empire, closely follow <b>CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS</b>letterforms there are some subtle differences, mostly resulting from the limited space available on coins for inscriptional lettering. Most notably, they were modified to produce closer spacing and a compaction of the wide letters <b>C O Q</b> and <b>M</b> resulting in more uniform and "square" lettering. The essential letterform constructs were closely followed for coins of the early to mid Empire who's inscriptions are generally stately and elegant: <b>E</b> and <b>F</b> have equal length horizontal bars; <b>A</b> has a sharp apex; <b>V</b> has a sharp junction; the bowls of <b>B P R S</b> are always nicely formed. <b>P</b> is frequently rendered on Imperial coins with an open bowl, i.e. not touching the vertical stem at the bottom - especially on coins of the early Empire. The quality of Roman Imperial coin lettering reached its zenith on late period Julio-Claudian coins.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">Adaptation of Capitalis Monumentalis Letterforms by Coin Die Engravers</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><img src="http://jp29.org/plnexemp05ss.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman">The coin die engravers used a selection of chisels (burins), stamps and punches -- the quality of the lettering may therefor have depended to some extent on the skill of the tool makers. The size of the planchet and the quality of the coin metal would also be determining factors. Rendering well proportioned and constructed Capital Roman lettering has always demanded considerable skill and it seems there has always existed a disparity of skills among the crafstsmen who executed them -- regardless of the tools and media employed.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman"></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="jamesicus, post: 3240131, member: 14873"][FONT=Times New Roman]A few points relating to terminology: Italic (writing) is the term present day calligraphers and typographers use to describe the Cancery writing scripts ([I]Cancellaresca corsiva & formata[/I]) formulated by the early 1500s Italian renaissance writing masters. The letterforms used in Roman coin inscriptions are based on the CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS letterforms of the Ancient Roman stone cutters and are well approximated by the present day Times New Roman typography font. I always convert the entire text of my CT posts to that font via the drop down menu choice at the top of the posting window in order to produce reasonable inscriptional lettering facsimiles. My handwritten rendition of CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS lettering (also in my avatar): [IMG]http://jp29.org/cal235s.jpg[/IMG] Roman Imperial coin inscriptional letterforms are based on those of [B]CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS[/B] employed by stone cutters for edifices, monuments, tombstones, etc. A fine extant example is found on Trajan's column in Rome and the essential constructs of these letterforms are the models for all Majuscule (Capital) alphabets used in the western world. Stone cutters in particular still employ their distinctive proportions and terminating serifs. It should be noted that only twenty letters were normally used in the ancient Roman alphabet: [B]A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T V X[/B]. Our modern [B]J[/B] and [B]U[/B] were not used, their equivalents being [B]I[/B] and [B]V[/B]respectively. Thus, our modern [B]JULIUS[/B] was written [B]IVLIVS[/B]. The letter [B]K[/B] was seldom used and then only before [B]A[/B]. The letters [B]Y[/B] and [B]Z[/B] were only used when reproducing Greek words. [B]W[/B] was not part of the ancient Roman alphabet at all. It was Medieval scribes who formalized the construction models for the letters [B]J K U W Y Z[/B]. There are numerous excellent photographs of actual CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS lettering (including that on Trajan's column) mostly accompanied by location information, translations and analyses, at [URL='http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Inscriptions/home.html']Bill Thayer's Latin Inscriptions section of his LacusCurtius web site[/URL] Although in general the inscriptional letterforms employed by Roman Imperial coin die engravers, particularly those of the early Empire, closely follow [B]CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS[/B]letterforms there are some subtle differences, mostly resulting from the limited space available on coins for inscriptional lettering. Most notably, they were modified to produce closer spacing and a compaction of the wide letters [B]C O Q[/B] and [B]M[/B] resulting in more uniform and "square" lettering. The essential letterform constructs were closely followed for coins of the early to mid Empire who's inscriptions are generally stately and elegant: [B]E[/B] and [B]F[/B] have equal length horizontal bars; [B]A[/B] has a sharp apex; [B]V[/B] has a sharp junction; the bowls of [B]B P R S[/B] are always nicely formed. [B]P[/B] is frequently rendered on Imperial coins with an open bowl, i.e. not touching the vertical stem at the bottom - especially on coins of the early Empire. The quality of Roman Imperial coin lettering reached its zenith on late period Julio-Claudian coins. Adaptation of Capitalis Monumentalis Letterforms by Coin Die Engravers [IMG]http://jp29.org/plnexemp05ss.jpg[/IMG] The coin die engravers used a selection of chisels (burins), stamps and punches -- the quality of the lettering may therefor have depended to some extent on the skill of the tool makers. The size of the planchet and the quality of the coin metal would also be determining factors. Rendering well proportioned and constructed Capital Roman lettering has always demanded considerable skill and it seems there has always existed a disparity of skills among the crafstsmen who executed them -- regardless of the tools and media employed. [/FONT][/QUOTE]
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