The program i used to scan this does color correction. Only in the case of the back view of this rule, that seems to mean 'make the color totally not resemble the real item'. See the Lietz 2974n for a better picture of the back of a rule virtually identical to this.
The Hemmi Mannheim rules are really nice. They're fairly simple, but they feel like they're put together just about perfectly. Even with this bad scan, the numbers are easy to make out, the cursor's small but functional, and the exposed bamboo on the back of the rule gives it that nice japanese minimalist look that's all the rage these days. This rule was available from about a gazillion different resellers; the Post version's the most well known, but all of them were pretty much the same. See, for example, the Lietz 2974n, which differs only in a bit of printing on the face of the rule.