Description
Another antique revival from the Chas. Broad Matrix Collection. This from our Senior Research Assistant George T. in Oklahoma:
McGrew attributes the mats to Great Western [Type Foundry], so unless future evidence proves otherwise I would go with that. You could give an approximate date of 1868 which is when Great Western began their very short-lived business. One thing that struck me was how much the face resembled a lot of the ornamented wood types. What I found in Rob Roy Kelly’s book is Doric Shade No. 1 and Doric Chromatic, both the same design. Kelly wrote that this design was “first shown in the 1850’s as wood type. Design was imported from Europe, likely France, during the 1840’s.” The design is almost identical to Celtic Ornate. I find it hard to believe that the face originated with Great Western in the approximately 20 months before they sold to the Barnhart Brothers. They were struggling to produce anything, much less an entirely new type. More likely, the father acquired the matrices in New York since he first operated there although his stock in trade was mostly German types. I think the categorization of the type style as Celtic is just wrong. Doric is much more correct.
The bifurcated stems of Doric and Celtic are also found on the face Ionic from the same era.
