Field Mail stamp?

[Norm Braddock]

Maybe Marc(2) could help with that. I never could get a grasp much past algebra.

Maybe it's like a secret decoder? You'd get a message over your tinfoil headset, twirl the numbers, stamp it and all would be revealed? Like "The moose are the ones not to be blamed for nothing"...*



Oh yeah, that guy...

* bonus points for remembering where that butchered quote came from. (done in poor taste; bad pun intended)

IT AIN"T MOOSE WHO ARE TO BLAME!!!!!

It's them sob martians again. Figure we get them satellite NASA things that shot rockets to the moon. We send up a couple thousand of them things and surround Mars and pepper the sobs to leave us alone.
Then we send up a division or two of cassowarys (wearing breathing apparatus), conquer the plant and build penal colonies.

[Lapa]

Phillip,

99% certain that it is for the date. Standard Soviet/Russian postal stamps are thus datemarked.

Marc

[deValcourt]

Marc,

You've just made my otherwise crappy day end on a happy note. One of my "educated guesses" finally has some backers. Thank you.

Phillip

[latinmajorac]

Maybe Marc(2) could help with that. I never could get a grasp much past algebra.

just to kibitzm

a) my guess is that it is a date. that is what i thought when i first looked at it, i thought it reminded me of a library stamp.

b) 8 positions with 9 possible numbers each represents 43,046,721 combinations
(assuming no zeros. if there is a zero on all of the dials then there are 100,000,000 combinations) this assumes that 12345678 is different from 8765421.

:-D hope this helps

[EricFG]

b) 8 positions with 9 possible numbers each represents 43,046,721 combinations
(assuming no zeros. if there is a zero on all of the dials then there are 100,000,000 combinations) this assumes that 12345678 is different from 8765421. :-D hope this helps

What do those two equations look like? 9 to the eighth power?

[latinmajorac]

What do those two equations look like? 9 to the eighth power?

exactly. since a number can be repeated, each slot has 9 choices and there are 8 slots so 9^8

the other one would be 10^8 if they all had 10 numbers

[deValcourt]

There are zeros on each dial. Since we all seem to agree it was probably used for the date, it would be darn difficult to give the dates for at least three days of the month (10, 20, 30).

After I clean it up, I'll get some ink on it and stampt something with it and post it here.

Phillip

[latinmajorac]

There are zeros on each dial. Since we all seem to agree it was probably used for the date, it would be darn difficult to give the dates for at least three days of the month (10, 20, 30).

After I clean it up, I'll get some ink on it and stampt something with it and post it here.

Phillip

maybe you could try all 100,000,000 permutations of the numbers! then you could stamp each one just so we know what each one looked like:-)

[deValcourt]

Sure, I've got nothing but time and plenty of paper.

Phillip

[deValcourt]

Ya don't see stuff like that too often. Where'd ya find that Phil?

Here's another one I found on the auction site. It is made by the same manufacturer as the one I posted before. The seller does not say anything about it being a "post mark," but after all of the above, I'm inclined to think it is. It also has that unusual two-thirds of an infinity symbol - for lack of a better description - below the numbers, which is similar to the "horn" in the Russian symbol for the postal service. There are also fewer numbers. It could still be a date stamp if only the last two digits of the year were used.

All the seller says is that it is a "Soviet seal 1967: Factory city Permi "Promsviaz" - inscription on seal Breskiy region city Baranovichi."

Phillip