Stamping it real

A few documents for my university applications needed to be notarised, so I went to the "Bürgerbüro" (Citizens' Advice Office or Registry Office) yesterday. After waiting only 30 minutes or so--a short time compared to the usual eternity required for registration--I was summoned to the notary's cubicle. Each of my documents was inspected thoroughly: the paper quality was compared to that of the copies, stamps and seals were looked at through a magnifying glass, watermarks were examined. Once she was satisfied that the originals were real, the bureaucrat went into action.

First, she thumped a huge stamp (three inches square)onto the back of one of the copies. A small box with lines for signatures remained. (Stamp #1: Creating document-like grid for further stamping/signing)

Using a ruler (!) to fill out the now-stamped lines, she filled in the destination of the document and signed. Usually date and place can also be handwritten, but in this case, they needed to be stamped. (Stamp #2, 3: Date and place).

She then took a key from her pocket, opened a locked drawer, and took out three more stamps, one at a time. Some of these looked like seals of the city, others had no clear meaning for me. Two of them required her signature. (Stamps #3, 4, 5: unknown)

Because I had three documents with two copies each to notarise, there was much paper-flipping and stamping in order to use each stamp most efficiently. I can still hear my notary at work:
Flip--stamp on pad--stamp on paper--flip--stamp on paper--flip--stamp on pad--stamp on paper--flip--stamp on paper--flip--change stamps--stamp on pad...