Based on color photos, the dagesh in the resh is an artifact.
Credit: Photograph by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman, West Semitic Research,
in collaboration with Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center.
Courtesy National Library of Russia (Saltykov-Shchedrin).
A dagesh in the resh is unexpected.
In the black/white facsimile the dot in the resh is dark and slightly irregular.
In the color facsimile, above, the dot is brown with an attached, smaller, darker dash.
The dagesh is probably an artifact.
Notes: The color page has a scattering of similar brown dots, such as ones above the nun in the word.
The Masora Circle over the word refers to the number '4' in the left margin.
Alexander Adler
