This one is not an "hand made writing stamp". I have found an "hand make writing stamp" for a similar oil lamp type found on the following site http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/lampcat/lampcat3.shtml
...
I assume that It should be less ancient than the one found in the internet site because of the stamp printing improvement... "time is money", sorry I should say "time was also money" at that time !
The use of formal capitals for inscriptions on these
lamps (as on your example) appears to have been commoner but contemporaneous with the use of cursive letters for them (as on the
lamp in the link
http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/database/lamp.php?82).
Both forms of
inscription were created on the patrix (or archetype) from which the mould was made; thus the appearance of
either form of
inscription on the
lamps themselves was only a moulded copy. One
type is no more hand-made than the other. The
lamps themselves were not inscribed by hand (except in very
rare cases).
Making
lamps in moulds:
http://www.romulus2.com/lamps/articles/art2.htmFrom your image I suspect the reading should be
MVNTREPI (the letter 'E' is often very narrow in inscriptions of this
type). This would refer to
Lucius Munatius Threptus, whose signature includes variations such as LMVNTHRE, MVNTREP and MVNTREPT (with or without the 'H'; spelling varied widely in those days). I have now looked through
Deneauve and
had a closer look at
Bailey and other references.
Bailey suggests he was working in
Italy but later research suggests
North Africa as more likely.
If I have well understood, "MVN" stands for the family name, but could you please explains the meaning of "TRIPI" ? Is it other family names or information on the manufacturing place ?
Taking your lampmaker as an example: 'Lucius' was the
praenomen, or personal name.
MVN or 'Munatius' would be the
nomen, signifying the
gens, roughly the equivalent of a clan name or wider family. TREPI or 'Threptus' would be the
cognomen, which began as a nickname but became a more specific family name after
Republican times.
Places of manufacture are extremely
rare on
lamps. The
inscription on your
lamp is purely the name of the maker.
I doubt that in the absence of context you will get a more accurate dating than 2nd century AD.
David