Recently we acquired another Stamp Affixer, a Standard Stamp Affixer Model E. The Patent dates on it were from August 8, 1916 and Jan 9, 1917. For that don’t know, a Stamp Affixer is a hand stamping machine that people used to store stamps in and then were used to stamp envelops. Most of the stamp affixers had locks that would prevent sticky fingers (thieves) and employees from stealing the stamps. Of course they could just take the who kit and cabootle (Funny saying with an interesting past). Some of these Stamp Affixers also had counters, which would indicate how many stamps had been used.
Well I know a to or thing about stamp affixers. I probably own the biggest stamp affixer collection around. That is a bold statement, but it is probably true. I am always on the hunt for these and every now and again one will turn up that I don’t have and that is when I will try to acquire it. This assumes the price is right. Stamp Affixers in generally don’t sell for much, but they are quite unique and plain cool. All of them have stories.
As far as I know the Standard Stamp Affixer first was developed sometime around May 1912 or a little before. 
That is when a patent was filed. It was first granted on August 8, 1916, just prior to the US entering WW1. The first design lasted about 10 years before a new patent was granted on Dec 8, 1926. You can read more about the patents and the Standard Stamp Affixer in a previous article I wrote.
This first model wasn’t a nice or as well built as it’s predecessor that came after 1926 and certainly wasn’t as nice as another early Stamp Affixer known as the Multipost Stamp Affixer.
The handle on the Model E was made out of wood. Later models would replace the wood handle with Bakelite. The metal is a little strange. It seems rather light compared to the Multipost or it’s replacement model.
When I first saw a picture of the Standard Stamp Affixer I always wondered what the rings on the plunger were. Was it a sort of skew design or something else. Well as it turns out the rings are actually from a spring. The Spring allows the plunger to be pushed in and then sprung back into position. The Multipost for example also uses springs, but those are housed internally and are less exposed to the elements.
If you browse our website there are lots of other articles detailing many other Stamp Affixer models. If you have one or know of one we haven’t covered, we would to hear from you.
