I’m a Notary Public in the State of Texas. I am fully aware embosser are not required and that most notaries don’t use them, at least not anymore. However, I still choose to emboss documents for my elderly signers because it’s something most of them are familiar with, I like the formality it adds to important documents, and it’s always nice to stand out in our industry.
The Texas SOS is not specific, but states that the notarial seal “must be affixed by a seal press or stamp that embosses or prints a seal that legibly reproduces the required elements of the seal under photographic methods”, so I’m unclear if it must be inked or if I should continue using the golden seals.
I’m not a lawyer, so I’m just giving my personal thoughts. When I see “photographic” in notary laws, rules, and handbooks, I think of the modern meaning of photography, which means a wide variety of devices that sense the light coming from an object to create an image of that object. It would include film cameras, digital cameras, scanners, microfilm, etc.
The law can’t mean that every photographic method can reproduce the seal impression; there’s no way a cheap film camera like we used in the 1960’s is going to take a legible picture of any seal because you can’t focus close enough. If the requirement means it can be reproduced by at least one photographic method, then sure it can, but it might require a fancy camera and careful lighting setup.
If it means it must be reproducible by the typical scanners used in offices and county clerk’s offices, that’s harder to say. If that’s what it means, I’d say an inked stamper would be safer. Would it be allowable to use both the stamper and the gold foil with embosser? I don’t know.
An advantage of the foil seal is it can be a secure way to bind together the pages of the document. You punch a hole in the stack of documents, run a ribbon through the hole, put the foil over the ends of the ribbon, and emboss the foil. Much harder to tamper with than a staple. But you wouldn’t do it for real estate documents because they need to be pulled apart to conveniently scan them ant the county clerk’s office.
It’s really just for show, like you said. I am always looking for opportunities to stand out in this field of work, especially given how competitive things have become this past year.
I had a signing in a nursing home a month ago for a sweet elderly lady. My signer was impressed with how formal and official the document looked after I used my embosser and a gold seal, plus her son called me again that next week to notarize another document for her. He specifically asked me to bring the “gold stickers” back to the nursing home.
A reason to use a gold foil is to improve the way you attach the pages of a multi-page document together. You get a grommet tool, make a hole in all the pages (similar to a loose leaf notebook, but only one hole). You use the tool to put a grommet through the hole and flare it out so it can’t come out. You run a ribbon through the grommet, and paste the ends of the ribbon down with the gold foil. Then you emboss the gold foil.
Notaries seldom do this anymore. The only time I’ve encountered the practice is official copies of US patents. I’m attaching a picture of one.
Good for you. Anything to help build a loyal clientele, right? Just remember the seals are not photographically reproducible. County and Secretary of State clerks will reject those documents that are notarized in this manner. If and when that happens is hard to predict.
A rejection is considered a notary error and that’s precisely the reason a notary bond is usually required to obtain a commission.
