They used to stick to highly official documents, today they stick to the icebox: seal stamps (as refrigerator magnets) from the days of the emperor. Such seal stamps were the successors of wax seals. Legations and consulates all over the world used them to seal confidential mail. The age of our paper seals can be easily determined. The imperial eagle shows - by decree of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1888 - all kinds of squiggles on the feet. Before that, they were much plainer. Our magnets come from Bordeaux, Vienna, Monrovia (Liberia), Basel, Alexandria, Davos and Cairo. Also from the Consulates General in Copenhagen, London and Zurich and from the Imperial German Legation in The Hague.

The magnets measure 5 cm x 5 cm and are covered with bookbinder's cloth in different colors.

Each of these objects from the bookbinder's workshop of Cornelia Kurtz is unique. Rummaged up by Cartobook in forgotten boxes and drawers, the individual paper antiques now enter the public domain and seem as fresh now as they did when they were carefully made and distributed. And already their "second life" begins. Right here!

$ 10.19