This stamp is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue between Marcus and Horton. (It’s just north of where Elizabeth Street would be, if it didn’t disappear for a couple of blocks.) My husband actually found this one first and told me about it, but I forgot where he said it was, and then ended up running across it on my own.

What happened here? Yes, the date was accidentally reversed, but how? This forces me to admit that I have no idea what these stamps actually look like such that it’s possible to reverse them. I always picture something that looks like a branding iron, but then how could this happen?

Looking around a bit, I find this site selling name stamps for contractors. Here’s another example from a different company. The stamps pictured have holes so that a new year stamp can be inserted. That makes sense, but I still don’t see how the date can end up mirrored. The raised numbers are only on one side of the stamp as far as I can tell. Upside-down is a more obvious way this could go wrong.