I'm not going to put too much weight on it resembling the 1753 letter specifically, but I wouldn''t be surprised if more data points showed that after 1740, Fritz had to sign so many letters he ran out of time and patience for the "d".
Not conclusive. But intriguing.
My plan is to order all the Fredersdorf letters from the Prussian archives and check out not just the signatures (which are all post-1740), but the paper and ink.
I also need some early letters in German! Hmm, I know there are letters from Küstrin, there must be some in German in Fritz's handwriting. The paper wouldn't be conclusive, though; really wish I could get those Borcke letters just for the paper comparison, even if they are in French.
Btw, I figured out what was up with the Borcke letters. A few things occurred to me:
1. They're all letters *from* Fritz. 2. Preuss didn't publish them. 3. The archives were still closed in 1881. 4. The Prussian archive doesn't seem to have them to this day.
Ergo, they must be like that batch of letters from Fritz to Suhm: they were in the possession of the respective family, then ended in up the hands of a collector who published them independently. Then I tracked down the original 1881 volume, and sure enough, it says the editor was lucky to come into the possession of these Borcke letters that had been in a family archive.
So I guess I'm not getting my hands on those. But Fredersdorf should be simple, though it will take several weeks. Now I'm cursing myself for not having ordered them when I thought about it, earlier this year! But I was already spending hundreds of dollars on archive orders, and I had no reason at the time to order something that was already published...
Well! I will place the order Monday, and probably also see what the archive has for Küstrin.
Evolving Fritz signatures
November 1734:
Jan 1735:
February 1736:
July 1739:
December 1745:
April 1747:
November 1753:
April 1754:
June 1755:
And our undated mystery letter:
I'm not going to put too much weight on it resembling the 1753 letter specifically, but I wouldn''t be surprised if more data points showed that after 1740, Fritz had to sign so many letters he ran out of time and patience for the "d".
Not conclusive. But intriguing.
My plan is to order all the Fredersdorf letters from the Prussian archives and check out not just the signatures (which are all post-1740), but the paper and ink.
I also need some early letters in German! Hmm, I know there are letters from Küstrin, there must be some in German in Fritz's handwriting. The paper wouldn't be conclusive, though; really wish I could get those Borcke letters just for the paper comparison, even if they are in French.
Btw, I figured out what was up with the Borcke letters. A few things occurred to me:
1. They're all letters *from* Fritz.
2. Preuss didn't publish them.
3. The archives were still closed in 1881.
4. The Prussian archive doesn't seem to have them to this day.
Ergo, they must be like that batch of letters from Fritz to Suhm: they were in the possession of the respective family, then ended in up the hands of a collector who published them independently. Then I tracked down the original 1881 volume, and sure enough, it says the editor was lucky to come into the possession of these Borcke letters that had been in a family archive.
So I guess I'm not getting my hands on those. But Fredersdorf should be simple, though it will take several weeks. Now I'm cursing myself for not having ordered them when I thought about it, earlier this year! But I was already spending hundreds of dollars on archive orders, and I had no reason at the time to order something that was already published...
Well! I will place the order Monday, and probably also see what the archive has for Küstrin.