Noah Draper's Photo Imprint

Page out of Noah Draper & Ethel Nelson's 1912-1924 Album

I've previously shown both of the above images in 1913: Grand Coulee, Sask, but for this post we're more interested the imprint Noah made on the photograph of the Grand Coulee Station.

These embossed stamps are usually found in legal offices where they are used to imprint a seal to add authenticity to documents. Such a seal was imprinted on Percy Draper's Insurance Policy as shown in my post, 1906 Percy's Policy. 

But many people use it to personalize their photographs and correspondence. I've found 2 photographs in Ethel's Treasure Box that are marked with Noah's imprint. The first is on the above Grand Coulee Station RPPC (Real Photograph Post Card) which I've cropped and shown in greater detail here: 

Noah also imprinted an RPPC  of the Canadian Northern Railway bridge he sent through the RPO (Railway Post Office) as explained in my post, 1913: Postcard with RPO stamp,  and shown below.

CNR Bridge at Prince Albert RPPC taken in 1913 by Noah C. Draper

It seemed that Noah didn't have any pattern for imprinting his photos. Although the CNR Bridge RPPC shows the imprint on a blank area , the Grand Coulee Station imprint is on the tracks instead of on the open sky.  On second thought, if Noah makes the imprint on the back, he may have thought he was printing on the sky at the top instead of the bottom. 

So what kind of imprint stamp would Noah have used? It would have needed to be portable and thus small and easy to carry.

My research led me to what is commonly called a Pocket Seal and often came with a leather case. A person would order a Pocket Seal with an affixed stamped disk showing his own design. 

Noah's pocket seal wasn't included in Ethel's Treasure box, nor was it used to imprint any of the photos and RPPC's Noah sent back from WW1. He may have left it at home before heading overseas, but because of what I've read in Noah's WW1 letters to Ethel, I don't believe we'll ever find it.