Minerals - Pyrite - English Italian Hand

"Pyrite often fooled inexperienced miners into believing they had discovered gold, hence its popular nickname "Fools Gold." Pyrite is a common mineral found all over the world. Chemically, pyrite is iron disulfide and has a simple cubic crystal structure. As a result natural forming cubes, such as this specimen, are common. The actual size of this specimen is almost exactly 1 inch square.

Calligraphically, I wanted to create a P that would utilize pointed flourish features to imply the sharp corners of Pyrite's cubic shape despite being in the otherwise very flowing style of Italian Hand. Also, having a penchant for using interesting variations in letterforms, with the exception of the standard i & e, the rest of the small letters are historic but of a less common sort: The 'y' is an old form dating back to early French variations. The 'r' is a later English Italian hand variant. The 't' is an early English variant directly evolved from French forms. Even so, with Italian Hand being an adaptive bastard hand, there is no reason why all these variants wouldn't have been used together by the 1770s."

~2016, Don Marsh~
©2016 Don Marsh