Unbelievable as it may be, rubber stamps and other custom stamps owe their existence to tribes of Indians in the jungles of South America.

Way, way back in 1736, an intrepid explorer and scientist, Charles Marie de la Condamine  is said to have noticed that some tribal members were playing with a ball fashioned out of a sticky substance, which they also used to stick feathers on their bodies and he sent a sample back to Paris for further investigation.  Although it was only around 30 years later that this ‘India rubber’ caught the attention of Sir Joseph Priestly because he noticed that it was very good for wiping lead pencil marks off paper, it was a very costly and rare commodity so it didn’t take off.

It was only after Charles Goodyear had dedicated a large proportion of his life (and an even larger proportion of his earnings – even selling his children’s school books for cash) to solving the sticky problem, eventually working out how to ‘cure’ the substance so that it was usable and flexible, despite any changes in temperature.

And of course, once there was rubber, there were rubber stamps.  The historical origins of the first rubber stamps aren’t documented, although there are plenty of theories about what, who and when, but when the first ink stamp was produced, it was probably to mark information on manufactured goods. 

What is clear however, is that rubber stamps have grown in popularity all around the world – from decorative art stamps to personalized stamps, date stamps for business use and hand-carved stamps for artistic creativity….the choice is vast.  Little wonder then that rubber stamping has such a strong following ….after all…doesn’t everyone want to leave their own individual mark on the world ?.

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