^The way that middle stroke wavers between straight and curve doesn't sit well to my eye. (I notice the analogous stroke in Brill's ampersand never stops curving.) But I can see how it's a kind of negotiation between the two halves of the letter with such different characters.
Yes, trying to maintain a sense of parallel strokes when one is straight and the other curved is difficult. But I think that relationship is key to making this letter work.
Ignoring the incomplete stroke on the right, I think this example provides a good model of how one can handle the short ascender without curving the whole stroke. This is the approach I would take in a renaissance style type like Andron with a translation stroke modulation.
my currently favoured Andron shape is quite close to that, actually. However, the treatment of terminals in the manuscript samples at hand (mostly of the bastarda-semifraktur-semicursive style) may well mislead us; wether the terminals are serifed or curvy or loopy or lenghty or shorty … is that crucial? I doubt it. I think the basic structure ought to resemble the w-shape of a given typeface, in whatever style it happens. And the 3-like right part is essential, of course. But to apply the rhythmic pattern or the serif ratio of a more modern type style … that seems to be a main issue.
I think the basic structure ought to resemble the w-shape of a given typeface, in whatever style it happens.
Which is why I think having the middle stroke ascend should not be considered essential, but instead a stylistic option. And linking the hairline of the left side into the top of the bowl on the right side is definitely not something appropriate to all type styles, but may be appropriate in italics with a general cursive construction model.
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