AtDDtA1: Seal

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

First off:

 http://www.tibetancc.org/

"About Us:-
 
When was it formed?
The Tibetan Chamber of Commerce was formed on the 18th June 2005 at a
conference organized in Delhi at the Golden Hut Resort, Gurgaon by the
Department of Finance of Central Tibetan Administration. 
 
The conference was attended by Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche, Kalon 
Lobsang Nyandak Zayul and Special Envoy Lodi Gyari. Also more than 50 people
representing diverse groups of business, 
Including carpet exporters, hoteliers and tours and travel agents in India and Nepal,
attended the two-day conference.
 
On 7th October 2005, the Tibetan Chamber of Commerce was registered as
Welfare Society Tibetan Chamber of Commerce under the Societies"

So first off, it has an element from 2005---our time.

Second:

http://www.tibetancoins.com/Price%20List.html

The Image of the snow lion rampant against a
backdrop of the Himalaya comes from Tibetan coins 
from back in the early 1900's. Not from a stamp:

http://www.tibetanpost.com/tpost.php?op=main
http://www.tibetanpost.com/tpost.php?op=subsection&id=12

Though related visual elements are used, the far more focused
image on the early coin is used on the seal---possibly a stamp.
And stamps/philatilic concerns start popping up on page 18
with the character of of Miss Penelope ("Penny") Black, something 
I missed altogether until:

"From: Jeffrey Meikle
Sent: 19 January 2007 14:47
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Penny Black

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but "penny black" is the nickname of
the
first adhesive postage stamp--issued by Great Britain in 1840.

Jeff

and as is pointed out right on page 4, the familiarity 
of some objects render them sometimes invisible to some people.


The likelyhood that it's some kind of a stamp is increased by:

http://www.fotuva.org/

"Hello Robin,

thank you for your email.  I've never actually seen this script before,
only read about it.  I think it's probably the alphabet designed by
Nicholas Poppe --- he's famous enough that everything he's done must be
catalogued and archived and studied somewhere, hopefully that gives you
enough to keep going on your quest.

But the Himalayan backdrop seems a bit out of place with a Tuvan script
--- do you think the coin and stamp were created for the book cover?

regards, Kerry Yackoboski
   for FoTuva.org"

This does a number of things. Tuva is being tied to Tibet.
Make of that what you will; Pynchon makes a mountain out of it.

The meaning of the cover stamp--that's what I'm calling it, and if
you get to page 1081 you just might see my point---burrows all 
the way through the book.