19th century Italian numerals

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helva
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19th century Italian numerals

Post by helva »

Hi. Were there two ways of making a 5 in 19th century documents? In family military records from the 1885? enlistment, the supposed 5 looks like an s that has been vertically stretched so that it is taller than the rest of the numerals and the top and bottom "curves" are nearly straightened out. By sleuthing through this document where the addition of sums are made, I think that this would have to be a 5. However, at other places in the document the 5 looks just like we would make it today in the US.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Thank you.

Interests: Manganaro and Romeo / Melito/Calabria and Terrazano and Capezza / Casamicciola/Ischia
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Re: 19th century Italian numerals

Post by JohnArmellino »

For what it's worth, I've noticed the exact same variations with respect to the numeral five.
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elba
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Re: 19th century Italian numerals

Post by elba »

The handwriting style from the 1700s and 1800s differs somewhat from the style today. Usually, when a double s occurs in a word, it is easily confused with a lower case f. When a double s does occur, often the first s is elongated and the second is the short s we use today. However, they may also appear with the first being short and the second being elongated.
(From link below)

This may help See: >Italian Handwriting<

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uantiti
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Re: 19th century Italian numerals

Post by uantiti »

helva wrote:Hi. Were there two ways of making a 5 in 19th century documents? In family military records from the 1885? enlistment, the supposed 5 looks like an s that has been vertically stretched so that it is taller than the rest of the numerals and the top and bottom "curves" are nearly straightened out. By sleuthing through this document where the addition of sums are made, I think that this would have to be a 5. However, at other places in the document the 5 looks just like we would make it today in the US.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Thank you.

Interests: Manganaro and Romeo / Melito/Calabria and Terrazano and Capezza / Casamicciola/Ischia
Yes I found number five written like you described it . It was just a habit not a rule as you could also find number 5 just like we would make it today in Italy.

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Re: 19th century Italian numerals

Post by pink67 »

This is an example image:

Image

Image

the numbers are:

19007-20
15 - 5 - 903

Hope this helps...

Laura
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helva
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Re: 19th century Italian numerals

Post by helva »

Yes, that's JUST what it looks like!! Thank you!

Linda
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