Description

This American office embossing press ( aka: seal press) was apparently patented twice in 1870s but only one of the patents has been found to date (see last image). R.B. Carsley of Chicago, Illinois received a patent (no. 152,329) on June 23, 1874 but he must have also received an earlier patent as this and some other known examples are stamped with a July 25, 1871 patent date. It was used for cancelling checks and affixing a name and address to documents. This example belonged to”S.E. Wood” a  wholesale grocer in Toledo, Ohio. The use of the bison as decorative element is reflective of the expansion of the American frontier during the post-Civil War period, with bison herds being hunted to near extinction as the covered wagons rolled West.