Hello everybody,

As a stonemason I often need to place new text on an existing gravestone, because a second family member passed away. When I do this, I always try to find a font that matches the existing letters or typeface as close as possible.

Because some of the stones are very old (1920's for example) the text on the stones I need to make new text for were handcrafted.

 

Can anyone help me find a font that matches the text as shown in the attachement as close as possible. I would like to have an Art Deco style font/typeface. 

Thanks a lot everyone!

Typeface_censored.pdf

The best match I can think of (including the asymmetrical |O|) would be Oil Can.

Unfortunately I now see that it’s not anymore available from Lost Type.

You could try to contact them asking if there is still a way to license it.

Depending on the letters you will need to use, Broadway and its contemporaries and derivatives can offer a very similar construction.

A recent and extensive take on the genre, if a bit “normalised”, is Mark Simonson’s Acme Gothic. For further alternatives, I would direct you to the typefaces listed in Mark’s presentation of his design.

Thanks for the replies so far! @Riccardo SartoriI have seen the Acme, but this one is indeed a bit to much normalised. I also found Limelight, but it is not what I am looking for.

Thanks again.

Type on gravestones and monuments are often custom to that arena (adapted specifically for the sandblasting process). They don’t often overlap with typefaces used for digital or traditional printing.

The folks at Monument Lettering Center might be better situated to help you. They have their own font identification forum.

Here's something very different: Grock, originally from Monotype in 1935.
Solofont digital version included in the Dover/Solofont Art Deco book + CD pack.
I have not found a commercial source for it, but if you can find that book with the CD...

On 8/10/2019 at 4:40 PM, Riccardo Sartori said:

A recent and extensive take on the genre, if a bit “normalised”, is Mark Simonson’s Acme Gothic. For further alternatives, I would direct you to the typefaces listed in Mark’s presentation of his design.

MVB Magnesium could be similar too.

@Kevin Thompson Thanks a lot for this resource. I'm definitely going to use this database and their services. Do you know from experience maybe how long it takes for them to find a match? And what happens if I pay the $50 and they can't find the right match?

 

@George Thomas thanks for your input. Eventhough this font is not enough in harmony with the excisting text on the monument, I will use it for another project. So thanks again for sharing.

Greetings,

 

Zefanja

On 8/13/2019 at 7:06 AM, George Thomas said:

Here's something very different: Grock, originally from Monotype in 1935.

George I have a digital font called "Roco DXS" by Dan X Solo from the Solotype Typographers Catalog. Dover Publications, Inc. 1982, I have had in for many years. It is very similar but not quite exact. Myfonts have something similar called Beale Charming: https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/softmaker/beale-charming/

Something closer to the headstone would be a modern deco font: "Lemondrop"

https://www.ffonts.net/Lemondrop.font.download

7 hours ago, Zef_Uniek said:

@Kevin Thompson Thanks a lot for this resource. I'm definitely going to use this database and their services. Do you know from experience maybe how long it takes for them to find a match? And what happens if I pay the $50 and they can't find the right match?

Zef, I’m afraid I don’t have any direct experience using his ID forum or font matching services (the owner of the site responds to gravestone type ID requests on the myfonts.com WhatTheFont forum, under the username Mr. Bills, which is how I became aware of his site).

Another similar: Bondi.