Geometric sans serif bold from 1960s - a Futura cousin but with short-point vertical legs "M"

Question

This has been nagging at me for years! It's so close to Futura bold, escially in its overall proportions, but that M is not something I've ever seen in Futura. Maybe it is Futura but with an M from Granby (looking at my 1960s Berry & Johnson Encyclopedia). Have not been able to find a digital approximation, though Nobel is close (the C is not Nobel) nor is it Erbar.

This sample is a small sheet of Czech matchbook covers celebrating the Warsaw Pact. I think it's early 1960s.

Thank you for this wonderful site!

Answer 1

Hi Sam! This may be Super-Grotesk, the Eastern Bloc's Futura-like option. Here is a specimen of the black weight. FontFont released a digital version in 1999. 

 

Correction: It’s Universal Grotesk, a Czechoslovak variant of a design originating at Wagner & Schmidt and cast by various foundries under names like Kristall-Grotesk, Polar-Grotesk, Rund-Grotesk. See Peter Biľak’s article. His Uni Grotesk is a good digital version.

Comments

Hmm, looking again, tho, Super-Grotesk doesn’t have that E with a long middle bar.

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Got it! It’s Universal Grotesk. I have corrected my original answer.

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OMG that is it! This has scratched a many-years-old itch, thank you Stephen! I'm so grateful. (Loving the Complete Commerical Artist from Letterform Archive. I hope sometime to be able to visit — have not been to SF in a long time!)