Looks like a Coach's Corner special to me. Ink looks watery and appears to have been applied yesterday. Slow, heavy-handed, deliberate. Lots of stops and starts in strange places, too.
The oddest part is that there was a Merritt P. Durkee in upstate NY at the time; a very quick look shows that one census record finds him living in nearby Ostego. Makes me wonder if this letter may have been based upon an authentic example which was used as a template. Far from the first time something like that has happened. Think of the famous Abraham Lincoln forgery to Mrs. Bixby.
Last edited by BillyCoxDodgers3B; 10-29-2022 at 02:32 PM.
|