We do not know where these letters came from, if they were made by a single person or if they were a general style. But we do know that, in any self-respecting store or market, a few small signs with the price will be labeled with this kind of unbridled Carolingian calligraphy, surrounded by other more modern price holders already made by machine.

The list of tapas in bars, the prices of dried fruit stores, greengrocers, fishmongers and butchers had these small letters painted in red and black by itinerant sign-makers who would go into the stores looking for some small job. There are still lots of them everywhere, but their future is to disappear little by little, as nobody gives them any importance.

When the owners of La Carmencita, my potato chip store (yes, that’s what we have in Madrid) retired, and I saw that the new owners had replaced the old Ganchitos, Kikos or Almendras signs with brand new and boring ones, I asked what they had done with the old ones and they brought me from the basement a box of lollipops full of treasures that I always wanted to turn into typography.

Now, for the Madriles Collection of the brand new Manufacturas Tipográficas Madrileñas, we are pleased to offer Cebada 17, with different widths, inclinations and with the possibility of enlarging the capitals to mimic the old style.

And why Cebada 17? It’s the place in my nearest food market, where the people from Hermanos Valle, Frutas Maneiro or Carnes del Fuego, among others, keep those little jewels and let me take some pictures for you.