Just FYI - Roman Document Writing

@jamesicus Not really relevant, but I wanted to show you this, an old check of James Russell Lowell.

 

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Thank you @Deacon Ray -- I am looking forward to seeing those layouts.

 

Thank you for that input @dougsmit -- and for skillfully directing this discussion to the province of Ancient Coins! IMO your observations and suggestions are "spot on"!

 

I like your Greek word example ANAKUKLONO... has a great ring to it for turning trash to treasure!

 

Spolia in buildings - the adaptive reuse of old building parts. We often see classical/ancient building parts reused in medieval structures. Reuse is human nature, I guess.

 

Thanks Gavin -- excellent information. Actually I have a sufficient supply of Vellum to last my lifetime -- "Life is short ..... shorter for some than others" (Augustus McCrae).

 

Where was all this leading (before I side-tracked myself)?

Many years ago when I belonged to our local Calligraphy club, I had what I thought was a bright idea: I would invite members who were interested to an informal (and free) discussion and demonstration, at my home, of Roman Capital letterforms (that was our area of special interest at that time) used on Roman Imperial coins -- and hopefully convince them that they represented the best models to use. I anticipated a good turnout but only three people showed up! The presentation went reasonably well although I don't think any of the three attendees adopted the coin inspired Capitalis Monumentalis letterforms as their default as I had hoped. Ah well, you win some and you lose some! At least the (free) refreshments were well received -- they ate them all!

I put a lot of time and effort into that presentation.





In my opinion, the lettering quality on the above Tiberius As reverse is especially good.

 

By way of explanation of terms, here is a student note I made up for one of my introductory classes:



The main use for powdered Sandarac is to sharpen the letter forms -- it is often mixed with powdered pumice and applied to the Vellum, Parchment, or even paper as a fine "pounce" -- the excess being dusted off prior to writing.

 

Nicely executed Capitalis Monumentalis Inscriptional lettering on a Tetrarchic follis:

Constantius, as Caesar, RIC VI, Lugdunum, No. 17a:





FL VAL CONSTANTIVS NOB C

GENIO POPV -- LI ROMANI

 

Thank you all every much for initiating or contributing to this interesting thread.

Which Roman coin types have the best letterforms? Here is a coin of Drusus, struck 22-23 under Tiberius, with good lettering (even if the coin is not in top condition):


Drusus. 30 mm. 10.91 grams. Heir under Tiberius.
DRVSVS CAESAR TI AVG F DIVI AVG N, His head left
PONTIF TRIBVN POTEST ITER, around large SC
RIC Tiberius 45, page 97
BMC Tiberius 99-101, page 134.
Sear I 1794

 

Thank you @Valentinian -- nice coin. Permit me to respond to your question by posting a portion of a previous post I made (my opinion):

Although in general the inscriptional letterforms employed by Roman Imperial coin die engravers, particularly those of the early Empire, closely follow CAPITALIS MONUMENTALIS 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 C O Q and M 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: E and F have equal length horizontal bars; A has a sharp apex; V has a sharp junction; the bowls of B P R S are always nicely formed. P 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.

 

Excellent example of high quality Julio-Claudian Inscriptional lettering -- thanks for posting that @randygeki

 

@jamesicus Thanks!