Some unique things about Walbaum are the hairline serifs, balled ends, evidence of pen movement and strong contrasting widths. The ? is special because instead of a curvy line to the dot it is a harsh straight line. Overall it has a tall x-height. The upper case Q has a special tail that goes from the base of the letter below the baseline. The lower case g has two stories and a closed loop. Letters a r g y c f have balled ends showing the pen and where it stops or pauses creating a ink spot. On the small caps version the numbers go up and down, they do not sit on the same baseline. I think the upper case W is very pretty because it shows the hairline serifs and contrasting widths clearly.
I found out today in History of Philosophy and Design that the Polo ads use Walbaum in all caps (POLO). We were looking at examples from a lecture on consumerism and it showed up and I looked at it then looked harder at each characteristic of the letters and realized they used Walbaum Roman.
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