Canadian National Dater Die

This is a Canadian National dater die from the St. Alexis station. A dater looked like a heavy duty desk stapler. When the agent issued a ticket, he would stamp the back of the ticket. This die imprinted the name of the issuing station, while an adjustable date stamp imprinted the date issued. The brass die measures about 1 1/2" square and is very thick, since these would be pounded countless times day in and day out. With the advent of computers and computer printed tickets, daters are seldom used anymore. By the way, I reversed the photo of the die so you can read it. Otherwise, just like with any other stamp, the lettering would be backwards.