Pin mark ID help

I’ve uncovered an old font of 12 pt. LaFayette Text. The pin mark has a “2” inside the circle. The nicks are angular, not round and smooth. Any idea who manufactured this type? Thank you.

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I seem to recollect that the H. C. Hansen Type Foundry of Boston was the only foundry known to have used “V” shaped nicks. H. C. Hansen started in 1872 and lasted until about 1922. Years ago, I had a large font of what I believe was 8 pt. Scotch Roman, and it had “V” shaped nicks.

Your font is indeed cast by the H.C. Hansen Type Foundry. Lafayette Text was issued by Hansen in 1908 and is basically a copy of ATF’s Engravers Old English (1901). A major difference in the two faces is that Lafayette Text has a fine verticle line in some of the capitals that drops below the baseline (source: American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century).

I should have credited my source for The H. C. Hansen Type Foundry’s dates of operation which are stated in my post above. It was “Type Foundries of America and their Catalogs” compiled and written by Maurice Annenberg.

Hansen referred to his nick mark as a “diamond” and, surprisingly, all his “point standard” spaces and quads were “nickless”, according to his 1903 specimen book.

I think that the “2” in the pin mark circle is actually part of a “12” , if it is a pica letter. If I am seeing it correctly, it is slightly off-center with a portion of the “1” to the left.

Dave Greer

Thanks for clarifying that Dave. The “2” bothered me, but I didn’t stare at it long enough to see that it is indeed an off-center “12”.