The Austrian designer Victor Hammer (1882-1967) created a typeface called American Uncial in 1943. Neue Hammer Unziale is the German Klingspor foundry's re-release of this design, from the year 1953.Unlike American Uncial, which is a unicase typeface, Neue Hammer Unziale has both upper and lowercase letters. Neue Hammer Unziale also comes in two versions, numbered I and II. Neue Hammer Unziale II is basically, although not 100 percent, the lowercase letters of American Uncial combined with the uppercase letters of Neue Hammer Unziale I. The OpenType version of Neue Hammer Unziale does not have a number in its name! This is because it contains both the letters from number I and from number II. The default characters in the font are those from Neue Hammer Unziale I, but those from Neue Hammer Unziale II are available as alternates.
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. Neue Hammer Unziale 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.
