Steven Avery
Administrator
Occasionally, the alleged ancient letters on the papyri bore a strange and suspicious resemblance to the characters of the modern Greek inscriptions written at the heading of each manuscript, suggesting the idea that the very same hand may have written both. Again, it was observed that the color of the papyri was, with two or three exceptions, entirely different from that which is always seen in genuine documents of the same supposed period and character, offering strong probability that the papyri had been deliberately decolored before anything was written upon them.
Finally, it was observed that fragments of papyri of different textures had been joined together to form a single piece, and it was asserted by more than one observer that papyri differing in age by more than a thousand years had been pasted side‑by‑side. In many places where there were defects—natural or accidental—in the papyrus, the writing upon them was bent in such a way as to conform to the existing crack or hole, and occasionally, as in fragment no. 7, the writing was inscribed around a defect that had existed beforehand.
Finally, it was observed that fragments of papyri of different textures had been joined together to form a single piece, and it was asserted by more than one observer that papyri differing in age by more than a thousand years had been pasted side‑by‑side. In many places where there were defects—natural or accidental—in the papyrus, the writing upon them was bent in such a way as to conform to the existing crack or hole, and occasionally, as in fragment no. 7, the writing was inscribed around a defect that had existed beforehand.