Can anybody read old handwriting? What the frick does this say?!

[YourVagesty]

Can anybody decipher this? It's on the back of an old painting and we have no idea what it says.

What say you MN?

I see the first line as My darling Emery with 3 initials underneath followed by a heart and a date in September. Think the painting might have been a present to someone. Just my two pennies worth 😀

Thanks! The text can't be a description or attribution. I'm coming down on the side of framing instructions, 'Dark Gilt Slip' or similar, though it still doesn't seem logical according to the letter forms. Was it in a gilded frame?

No idea about the top line now! Could be names of donor(s) or intended recipient, or even the room it was supposed to go in?

This is why I changed my handwriting to be clearer 😂

Have you tried using AI? This is what it said when I popped it in there. (I don't see Jones at all though 😆)

The handwriting in the image appears to be a name and potentially a location or description, likely written on the back of a photograph or document. Based on the cursive style, here is the most likely decipherment:

Miss Taylor Jones
Dahl & Gilstrip

Reasoning:

• Top Line: The first word clearly begins with an "M" and looks like "Miss." The following name appears to be "Taylor" (with a distinct "T" and "y") and "Jones" (written in a tighter script).

• Bottom Line: The first word starts with a capital "D" and looks like "Dahl" (a common surname). The "&" symbol is used in the middle, followed by "Gilstrip" (or potentially "Gilstrap"), which is also a known surname. This second line might refer to a photography studio or a business partnership.

I think a lot of you got it right about the last line being 'Oak and Gold Slip'. It's my dad's picture and he has confirmed that it's in a gold and oak frame!

Close but agree with others that it’s gilt rather than gold. If you look v closely, there is a tiny dot above the i and a really tiny cross on the t.

Just don't say it out loud on the night of a full moon or that chap will wake up and step out of the picture. Then it'll all get very unpleasant.

Mrs Taylor and Emery
Oak? Slip?

Wouldn’t September usually be abbreviated to Sept?

Chatgpt said

Trip Taylor featuring delroy Wilson- tell me why

Hiya Jayden and Emma
Dated 9th Sept.

First two words look like My Daughter.

My Daughter Evelyn
Oak and Gold Slip

Sorry Oak and Gilt slip

as a description of the frame

Name could also be Emily. Depends on age of the image affects likelihood of the name.

Rhys Taylor

oak and xxx slip

I suspect it's written fast as it's being left to his daughter, not that it's a painting of a daughter. Somebody poorly is leaving their things to family.

My daughter or my darling Emily, is there any E names in the family?

I think one word is Estuary. Another Slip. Is it a coast scene?

It’s the framer’s note of the client’s name and the framing instructions. It will be in and oak frame and have a gilt slip, or insert, under the glass and around the image.

Source: former paintings specialist at an auction house.

I got
Miss Taylor (& Emery?)
Dad's Gift Shop

I was thinking Rhys Taylor too 🤔

I think it's framing instructions,
Mrs Taylor, Emery (Emery being an address)
Something slip (the instructions)

I think it's 'Mrs Tayler & Emory
Oak & gilt slip'

The last bit says “Dark red slip”

Mrs Taylor’s Evening
Dahlia red slip

I think it says Philip Taylor and company then slip is last word.