I've seen a number of threads discussing phoney labels and repro dials.

One of the aspects that fascinated me most in learning commercial art was typography. The way type appears on railroad tickets and timetables was the main inspiration to begin my studies under my father's instructions as he was a commercial artist as well.

Arrangements of type in a paragraph, sentence or headline embody a phenomenon known as "Coloring out." To explain it more simply is that an entire layout of type has a particular tone value (light and dark) and rhythm all its own.

I made a little experiment a few minutes ago and tried to recreate a Hamilton box label and cigarette case label. Using the exact typeface for the words "HAMILTON GRADE 992B" I used Kabel medium. That's the same type that was used on the label in question. It didn't match at all.

Here's the reason. Years ago when type was being set it was derived from "hot type." That's type that comes in either seperate lead slugs or from a linotype machine making an entire line of type in one casting. The type faces themselves were copyrighted to Merganthaler who was a leading type foundry and producer of mats and magazines for linotype machines.

Some of the leading characteristics of hot type set lettering is the letterspacing itself. Since each individual letter is a slug all its own parts of one letter can't overlap into another. Note 1
Another characteristic is that the letters are not necessarily on a straight line. They tend to ride up a little here and there.

What really seperates the old from the contemporary is in "cold type," or that which is derived from computer software.

In the mid-70s the great push to modernize printing was on and computers were developed to set type, such as the Compugraphic. The problem was that the old copyrights couldn't be assumed by the new technology holders. Changes in the letters themselves had to be devised and such was the first round of type changes.

Type that was re-designed for computer typography came from "International Typography Corporation," or "ITC" This is why some new types in catalogues have a font name such as "ITC Cheltenham Bold." This would be the familiar font "Cheltenham," that was re-designed. A noticeable feature is that the lower case letters are taller than with hot type fonts. The weight of the letters is different as well.

As time has moved on a lot of these copyrights have been assumed and Merganthaler has switched to creating type fonts for computer usage. Even with the return to traditional letterforms there's still differences that only detail hounds can notice. But they're there. Computer generated type is very clean. It comes out in a pretty straight line. It's the letterspacing itself that's a giveaway. Unless you know your stuff the lettering is closely spaced. When hot type was inked and then "etched" into clay coated paper for reproduction to be run offset no matter how careful the pressman was there would still be minute ink "squish" marks along the parts of some letters. We never see this in cold type.

In order to create a new "Old Hamilton" label correctly the counterfeiter would have to gain access to hot type which is becoming as rare as some of the watches we covet. The searching out on this wouldn't be worth the time. He would have to know all the type faces involved and hope the old hot type guy would have them in his drawer. Then have them printed en mass and filll in the blanks on an old typewriter.

A counterfeit label should be as easy to detect as one generated by computer would be too clean. More likely than not the counterfeiter wouldn't have all the type faces necessary to do a really good one and still it wouldn't look right. Usually the slob will settle for what is "close enough." He'll be way off.

Same goes for repro dials I've seen. They look wrong to the average eye because they don't color out the same way the real ones do. Our eyes are trained without us realizing it to the balance of the genuine article. You've had this happen. You look at an article and you think, "It doesn't look quite right," but you can't put your finger on it.

Balance and the "coloring out" carry with it the ring of truth as Judge Judy would say.

If you spot something that looks phoney chances are it is. And if you can't tell for sure let me have a look.

Note 1. Exceptions to the overlap rule apply to 2 lower case "f"s together. You'll see this in old books etc. The first f is shorter than the next and they're very close together. Same with the word To. This is known as a ligature. Some companies would use for their insignia the company name set in a certain type face. They would have the craftsmen at the type house actualy miter the type slugs to get a special, tight letterspacing. This is the real definition of the word "logotype," from where the word "logo" is derived.

Mitchel:

Thank you for your comments and great information.

I also tried to reproduce some labels with no success. The label looked good but didn't match the original at all. It wasn't even close. Your information finally explained why!

I got to thinking about photoshopping a label and then printing it. It could be done. But it would be run on a laser or ink jet. the very quality of the ink, the problem of slight "banding" that being tiny lines of ink from the jet passsing back and forth would be a giveaway.

Ive never studied a genuine box label froma Hamilton. But I can say that if the labels had been run offset the ink would have a slight gloss to it and appear to ride above the colored paper. The edges of the letters would be sharply defined. If the original labels were run letterpress, where steel letters actualy hit the paper there maybe a slight indentation into the paper where the letters are.

My business is making interior panels for Studebaker Vehicles. Studebaker put their exterior color paint name on a label and stuck it on the bottom of the glove box. I have been think about reproducing that label. It doesn't have to be perfect as the new glove box I make is a reproduction. A new label wold make a nice authentic touch.

Ernie,

I should be able to help you with that.

Email me at art.mark@usa.net