[Ron Wood]

Not a bad observation and not really going astray. One thing to look for in a pantographed marking - you will never see a sharp, "square" corner. In addition to the "swirly" appearance, the rotary cutter will always leave rounded corners.

Hand engraved characters may be "square" but will tend to be non-uniform in depth and may exhibit "chop" marks left by individual blows of the chasing hammer. Good engravers can cut a precise line without a hammer, but under magnification, the terminus of each cut will be observed to be an incline rather than a sharp plunge cut that would be left by a die.