The Austrian designer Victor Hammer (1882-1967) created the American Uncial typeface while he was living in the United States during the 1940s. This typeface is similar to Neue Hammer Unziale, although Neue Hammer Unziale is actually a later re-release of this design. American Uncial is a unicase design. The upper and lowercase letters have the same design, and are the same size.Victor Hammer released his first Uncial-style typeface with the Klingspor Foundry in Germany in 1923. This was called "Hammerschrift." During the 1930s, he moved to the United States, where American Uncial would be released, through the Dearborn Type Foundry. In 1953, the Victor Hammer released another version of American Uncial with his old distributor, the Klingspor Foundry. They renamed the type Neue Hammer Unziale.
Neue Hammer Unziale is not unicase; it has Roman uppercase letters as well as lowercase Uncials. Linotype also has this typeface available; its Neue Hammer Unziale comes in two versions, each with a slightly different Lowercase (Neue Hammer Unziale II is basically the lowercase letters of American Uncial with the uppercase from Neue Hammer Unziale I).The Uncial letterform was used across Europe during the time of the late Roman Empire, and thereafter as well. Its forms would inspire the Carolingian Miniscule (c. 800 A.D.), and our present lowercase. American Uncial is one of the most popular Uncial fonts in the world. It is often seen in Ireland and elsewhere for things that should look "Irish" or "Celtic." It is also a favorite for use on certificates and diplomas. The font is best used in headlines and shorter texts with a point size of 12 or larger.
