Arago: Handstamps

This "FIRST CLASS" auxiliary marking device is representative of "rubber" stamps used between the 1960s and 1980s. It was used as an endorsement on mail pieces to indicate that First Class postage was paid for items of a size, shape, or weight that could also have been tendered as another class. Beginning in the 1980s, rubber handstamps such as this one which required an ink pad were phased out in favor of self-inking stamps.