Coca-Cola logo

[Zivio]

I'm currently reading The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting, by English novelist Philip Hensher.  Not too far along, but find that Mr. Hensher is no lover of Spencerian script and critical of many other things related to handwriting..

In chapter seven he makes the comment that the Coca-Cola logo is rendered in copperplate.  This surprised me since I've seen so many references to this logo having been done in Spencerian, by no less than the Coca Cola Company https://www.coca-colacompany.com/au/news/trace-the-130-year-evolution-of-the-coca-cola-logo and even Zillers.com http://zillers.com/learning/spencerian-and-cooperplate/.  Yet in this same link on Zillers it is said, "In general terms, Spencerian hands utilize delicately shaded lower-case letters."  Yeah, not seeing that in the logo.

When I first discovered Spencerian a few years ago, I'd encountered many online references to this logo, and just decided that, because I was so new to scripts and calligraphy in general, I wasn't able to discern it for myself.  But today, I have a hard time reconciling those heavy thicks with very little thin contrast with Spencerian.  Even Louis Madarascz and his heavy shading has a lot of thins to balance.

It just seems terribly urban mythological to me, and it's doubtful Myth Busters will ever take this one up, so I submit this poll.

[Erica McPhee]

 I have always found this so interesting/confusing. It definitely looks more like Copperplate than Spencerian. But this and the Ford logo have always been designated as Spencerian Script.

However, a distinction needs to be noted between Spencerian Script Lettering and Spencerian Script Penmanship. I believe the confusion stems from the use of “Spencerian” as a misnomer for hand lettering designed for graphic use and subsequent typefaces of the same name. It seems it was used to describe a genre of styles, not Spencerian penmanship.

See here for further examples: Spencerian Revival .

This awesome PrintMag article confirms my thoughts:  Award Winning Spencerian Script Font . 

[Erica McPhee]

This blog post also confirms the umbrella use of “Spencerian Script” as a catch all for calligraphic fonts of various thicks and thins. Spencerian Script Typefaces

[Zivio]

... I believe the confusion stems from the use of “Spencerian” as a misnomer for hand lettering designed for graphic use and subsequent typefaces of the same name. It seems it was used to describe a genre of styles, not Spencerian penmanship....

aHA!  Yes, Spencerian as penmanship vs type style really helps to explain things.  Thank you for finding and citing these great links. I'm fond of quoting the late Ben Bradlee, "When the history of the world is written, this won't be in it," but these kinds of things interest me. 

Much appreciated,
~Karl