Please help identify possible age of this carved Number?

James Wilson

Dear all, please could you help me identify the possible age of this carved flat topped 8 number. It is on the base of a large carved stone artifact and it would immensely helpful if anyone knows when this type of typeface/font (forgive my ignorance of the correct terms) was in use. 

Andreas Stötzner

a bit of further context information would be appropriate: location? historic environment … ?

… roughly: 17th c.

Thomas Phinney

For whatever it’s worth, the appropriate terms are “lettering” and “stone carving,” or “stone-carved lettering.” 

James Wilson

For further context, this is a relief carved stone (Portland probably) urn that came from an unknown London building. Stylistically it could either be early 18thC or late 19thC. What I would like to establish is whether the flat topped figure 8 is likely to more one than the other. 

Dan Reynolds

I would say that, in Britain and the United States, this flat-topped 8 was more common at the end of the 19th Century than in any other period. But, it could be early 18th Century. Without more context, it is difficult to say anything further.