Last updated October 9, 2021 My Revenue Stamp Collection Newest Additions
These are the newest additions to my collection.
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Scott # 267a. Added October 9, 2021
Bank of Ellensburg. 2-cent George Washington Bureau definitive used illegally as a revenue stamp on a check from The Cloverdale Creamery in Ellensburg, Washington, the check written June 30, 1898, the day before the tax went into effect, presented for payment on July 1, the first day of tax. A beautiful illegal/improper first day usage.
Scott # R48c. Added October 8, 2021
George S. Porter, Port Warden. A very scarce document type, an 1864 port warden's certificate from San Francisco. Secondary certification transaction on the reverse with an R27b part perf.
Scott # R154. Added October 8, 2021
United States Express Co. Tattered 2-sided receipt book page from the United States Express Co. with each side showing 5 examples of R154, each with a bold large-format 'USX' multi-line handstamp cancel. Additional handstamp at upper right reading 'From Iowa Domestic Medicine Co. Iowa City, Iowa'.
Scott # R168. Added October 7, 2021
The Bank of Charleson. Block of 4 of the 10-cent battleship documentary plus a 2-cent battleship featuring a fancy bold multiline handstamp cancel, paying the tax on an 1899 promissory note.
Scott # R167. Added October 7, 2021
The Mexican Telephone Co. 5-cent, 1-cent, and 25-cent battleship documentaries paying the tax on a stock transfer of shares in the Mexican Telephone Company.
Scott # R23c. Added October 7, 2021
Henry D. Barto & Co's Bank. The document itself is a bit worse for wear, printed on a translucent tissue paper, but the shield handstamp cancel is lovely.
Scott # R164p. Added October 7, 2021
USPS. 2-cent battleship documentary used illegally as postage on a 1923 cover from Nome Alaska to San Fancirco, California.
Scott # R15c. Added October 6, 2021
J. McManus & Co. Ornate boxed handstamp cancel on an 1865 receipt for 4 stoves and metal castings.
Scott # R86a. Added October 6, 2021
$3 Manifest imperforate plus $5 Mortgage perforated and a pair of $1 Conveyance perforated, paying $10 tax on an 1864 Ohio warranty deed.
Scott # RB45. Added October 1, 2021
Full gum mint never hinged block of 4 of the Scott-listed double impression ('kiss impression' technically). You can see a faint magenta cancel at the right edge of the right 2 stamps, so presumably these were precanceled.
Scott # R84d. Added October 1, 2021
Considerably more scarce than the Scott value difference from R84c would imply, in my opinion. No image of the back of the stamp needed, as there are two large blue silk threads visible on the face, one in Washington's hair at right and one in the second E of REVENUE at bottom.
Scott # R15c. Added September 30, 2021
Kennedy & Mallon. Attractive billhead from Kennedy & Mallon, 'Choice Family Groceries, Wines & Liquors' in Virginia, Nevada, featuring both a 2c USIR documentary as well as a Nevada state tax stamps. Most Nevada state tax revenues are found on checks or high-dollar industrial transactions, e.g., mortgages. You don't see many of the mundane day-to-day documents (receipts, invoices, legal documents) that are so often seen with federal revenues affixed.
Scott # R164. Added September 30, 2021
Little Miami Railroad Co. 1899 stock certificate for 1 share of the Little Miami Railroad Co. Nice embossed seal depicting a train.
Scott # R20c. Added September 26, 2021
W. Grove & Co. Tattered and torn, but incredibly scarce. An 1863 first bill of exchange, Havana Cuba, drawn on a party in New York, in the amount of $1,400. Taxed 14 cents (short-lived Inland Exchange 1863 rate of 2c per $200), with Cuba 1 escudo Giro ('Draft') tax paid in 1868 to ensure legality in a long-running legal action (specifics courtesy of Mike Mahler).
Scott # R44c. Added September 6, 2021
St. Louis, Vandalia, & Terre Haute Rail Road Co. Interesting stock certificate, taxed when issued in 1871 and subsequently in 1899 when redeemed/transferred.
Scott # R155. Added September 6, 2021
Caledonian Insurance Co. Very attractive first day of tax usage on an insurance policy. The correct tax for the transaction was 28.5 cents, so this overpaid the tax by a half cent, thus corroborrating the shortage of half-cent battleship documentaries at the beginning of the tax period. Large-format first-day documents are quite scarce.
Scott # RB21. Added September 6, 2021
Hartford Fire Insurance Co. Horizontal pair of quarter-cent proprietary battleships, used improperly to make the half-cent component of a 2.5-cent rate on a fire insurance policy. Despite Hartford being a fairly large company, they must have run out of the half-cent documentary battleships.
Scott # RF1. Added September 5, 2021
Robert Bell's Sons. 2-cent Playing Cards used improperly on an 1899 bank check. All known examples are from this company.
Scott # 267. Added September 4, 2021
Boise City National Bank. 2-cent Bureau definitive used improperly on an October 1898 Boise City, Idaho bank check.
Scott # RB27. Added September 4, 2021
Jonestown Bank. 2-cent Proprietary battleship used improperaly as a documentary on a bank check, caught by the receiving bank when deposited and a precanceled 2-cent Documentary battleship affixed over the original. See matching bank cancel on the reverse.
Scott # R13c. Added July 25, 2021
George C. Goodwin & Co. Very dramatic all over double transfer, unlisted in Scott, plate position unknown. Almost all lettering, numerals, and frame elements are doubled to some extent.
Scott # R30c. Added July 25, 2021
3 huge jumbo margins.
Scott # R78a. Added July 25, 2021
E & Co.
Scott # R11c. Added July 25, 2021
N. O. Johnson. Very unusual handstamp cancel with curved ERIE in the center. Business is either N.O. JOHNSON or N.Q. JOHNSON, I cannot tell which.
Scott # R259. Added July 25, 2021
Very scarce block of 4. Scott lists but does not price the block of 4 either mint or used. The catalog value above is for 4 singles. This is the first block I have ever seen.
Scott # R183. Added July 25, 2021
Horizontal pair. Fairly scarce in multiples.
Scott # R140. Added July 25, 2021
Very large margins. A bit muddy impression, but appears to have doubling in 1st and 3rd stars at top.
Scott # R1a. Added July 25, 2021
Enormous jumbo! Parts of adjacent stamps can be seen at top and left.
Scott # RE15a. Added July 25, 2021
Right margin example of this double impression. All known examples have the same manuscript cancel.
Scott # R36d. Added July 25, 2021
Scott # R140. Added July 25, 2021
Double transfer in top stars, position ??.
Scott # R229. Added July 25, 2021
USPS. 2-cent documentary paying the parcel post tax on a cloth parcel tag from the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia.
Scott # R154. Added July 24, 2021
Southern Pacific Co., Sunset Route. Bill of lading.
Scott # R12c. Added July 22, 2021
Very scarce pair of 2c Playing Cards in orange. Only the tenth reported multiple of any size. Appears to be from the same sheet and canceled by the same hand as this pair.
Scott # R52c. Added July 20, 2021
Eagle White Lead Co. Solo use of 30c Inland Exchange correctly paying the tax on an 1869 payment note.
Scott # R13c. Added July 17, 2021
Block of 4 with multiple minor double transfers throughout. Top 2 stamps are canceled with magenta X's, the bottom 2 stamps not canceled. They appear to be precancels of some sort, as all 4 stamps have full gum.
Scott # R118. Added July 17, 2021
Pacific Mail Steamship Co. Two partial strikes of handstamps from the Pacific Mail Steamship RISING STAR. If the strikes were complete, this would be a $150-250 item.
Scott # R13c. Added July 17, 2021
Plate cracks or inking anomalies at right.
Scott # R113. Added July 17, 2021
Double transfer in top stars, plate position 47; the boldest of several plate positions exhibiting double transfers in the stars.
Scott # R164. Added March 23, 2021
USPS. 2-cent battleship documentary used illegally as postage on an 1899 cover addressed to the Risdon Iron Works in San Francisco, caught and held for postage. It appears that there may have been a postage stamp affixed over the auxiliary markings, but got lost somewhere along the way.
Scott # R25c. Added March 19, 2021
L. Millsner & Co., pawnbroker. Pawn tickets from the Civil War era are incredibly rare, with currently only 14 reported examples. No one saved them, as they were only needed until pawned items were retrieved. Of the 14 known examples, this is the only example not from New York City or Philadelphia. The other 13 examples have loan periods ranging from 4 months to 1 year, whereas the loan period for this pawn was an incredibly short 1-day loan for $300, which was a huge sum at that time.
Scott # 279b. Added February 28, 2021
Maine State Grange. 2-cent Washington used illegally as a revenue stamp on a National Shoe & Leather Bank check, caught, and a 2-cent battleship documentary subsequently affixed to legitimately pay the tax.
Scott # 268. Added February 28, 2021
S. L. Wadsworth.
A check on the Frontier National Bank in Eastport, Maine, dated July 6, 1898, with bisected 3-cent (Scott #268) and 1-cent (Scott #279) bureau issues improperly paying the 2 cent tax (1.5 cents + 0.5 cents = 2 cents). Across the pair of bisects is a manuscript cancel reading 'I.R. SLW & Son 7/6/98'.
S.L. Wadsworth & Son was ship chandlery established in Eastport in 1818 and still exists as a hardware store today.
While the assumption is that this piece is philatelic rather than commercial, arguments can be made as to why it MIGHT be a legitimate improper usage (that might sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but what I mean is an illegal usage done out of expediency or to defraud the government rather than a collector's creation).
- The date July 6, 1898 is very early in the taxation period, which is when the majority of legit illegal/improper usages are found, before ample supply of revenue stamps were delivered to more remote areas.
- Eastport Maine is a very remote location, the easternmost city/town in the United States, consisting entirely of islands.
Scott # R17c. Added February 28, 2021
Giles Bishop. Wonderfully centered 3-cent Playing Cards on a CDV. There appear to be plate scratches across the top. I'm looking for a confirming example with the same scratches, so please contact me if you have seen one.
Scott # R94c. Added February 20, 2021
Top frame line doubled, currently not listed in Scott, but confirming examples exist.
Scott # R35c. Added February 7, 2021
Gorgeous jumbo margins and well centered.
Scott # R70c. Added February 5, 2021
Extremely dry (underinked) plate.
Scott # R76a. Added February 4, 2021
Right frame line doubled.
Scott # R337. Added February 4, 2021
USPS. 2-cent series 1942 red documentary used illegally as postage on a 1944 commercial cover from the Merchants Fire Assurance Corporation of New York to the Collector of Internal Revenue. Mid-20th century nonphilatelic illegal use covers are quite scarce.
Scott # R113. Added January 31, 2021
Double transfer in all 6 stars at top. One of 5 plate positions exhibiting the double transfer, this one is the second most bold, plate position 92. Unlisted in Scott.
Scott # R116. Added January 31, 2021
Foreign entry, design of 70c. Plate position 51.
Scott # R123. Added January 31, 2021
Double transfer in top margin, plate position 42. Not listed in Scott.
Scott # R115. Added January 31, 2021
Horizontal pair with left stamp showing a double transfer at the base of the letters in the top scroll.
Scott # R66a. Added January 31, 2021
Interestingly, in addition to the right frame line doubled, there is also a stray vertical line going up through the lower right numeral.
Scott # R72c. Added January 31, 2021
Dodge & Stevenson. Diagonal plate scratch at bottom. Need confirming example and plate position.
Scott # R27c. Added January 22, 2021
Horizontal strip of 4, each with large margins and choice centering.
Scott # R7a. Added January 22, 2021
Long vertical plate scratch at left.
Scott # R154. Added January 22, 2021
1-cent I.R. provisional overprint block of 15, used on the first day of tax, July 1, 1898.
Scott # R15c. Added January 17, 2021
Vineland Fruit Preserving Co. Wonderful typeset printed cancel on an 1867 bank check.
Scott # RB4a. Added January 17, 2021
N. W. M.
Scott # RB16b. Added January 17, 2021
M.F. Milward.
Scott # RB15c. Added January 17, 2021
?? R & Co. Faked roulettes. You can see the indents of the original perforations down the right side.
Scott # R87c. Added January 9, 2021
Brady's Bend Iron Co. While at first glance it appears to be a handstamped cancel, it is actually a printed cancel. See my page devoted to the cancels of the Brady's Bend Iron Co.
Scott # R24c. Added January 9, 2021
Brady's Bend Iron Co. While at first glance it appears to be a handstamped cancel, it is actually a printed cancel. See my page devoted to the cancels of the Brady's Bend Iron Co.
Scott # R88c. Added January 9, 2021
Brady's Bend Iron Co.
Scott # RE70. Added January 2, 2021
Taylor Wine Co.
Scott # R164p. Added January 2, 2021
Commercial Milling Co.
Scott # R28c. Added December 31, 2020
William B. Wesson. 5-cent Playing Cards used illegally/improperly as a documentary, along with two 2-cent revenues, paying 9 cents tax on an 1867 land contract: 5 cents on April 24 per agreement, 2 cents on April 24 paying the receipt tax for the payment made at the time the contract was executed, and 2 cents on June 1 paying the receipt tax for the first scheduled payment.
Scott # R1b. Added December 31, 2020
Cochituate Water Board Office. Amazingly scarce item: A legitimate late-date east coast usage of a part perf or imperf. Typically genuine late-date usages are confined to the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington) or are not genuine imperfs or part perfs, as supplies had been fully consumed by mid-to-late 1864. An 1868 usage is incredibly late, but this being a vertical pair makes it unquestionably genuine.
Scott # R84d. Added December 30, 2020
Portsmouth National Bank.
Scott # R148. Added December 29, 2020
Perfectly balanced jumbo margins.
Scott # R19a. Added December 27, 2020
Scott listed sewing machine perforations; very scarce.
Scott # RB13a. Added December 27, 2020
W. H. S. & Co.
Scott # R64c. Added December 27, 2020
Fitchburg Railroad Co. Typeset printed cancel is Tolman #F-1A-2, shown in opposite directions on two examples of the 60-cent Inland Exchange. Incredibly scarce on this denomination.
Scott # R24c. Added December 27, 2020
Extremely well-centered stamp with a blue oval bookseller handstamp cancel.
Scott # R151. Added December 27, 2020
Unusual BD monogram, in a smaller font and format than one frequently seen on larger denomination 3rd issue revenues.
Scott # R14c. Added December 26, 2020
Geneva National Bank. 2-cent Proprietary used illegally/improperly as a documentary on a holographic (hand written) bank check.
Scott # R12c. Added December 26, 2020
Bank of Commerce. 2-cent orange Playing Cards used improperly as a documentary on an 1864 bank check.
Scott # RB30. Added December 26, 2020
USPS. Illegal/improper use of a 4-cent proprietary battleship as postage on a 1905 cover, with a ton of different auxiliary markings as well as the tattered remnants of a post office seal.
Scott # R228. Added December 20, 2020
USPS. 1-cent documentary used illegally as postage on a 1937 cover from an insurance company to a bank.
Scott # 73. Added December 20, 2020
Merchant Savings Loan and Trust Co. 2-cent black Andrew Jackson used illegally as a revenue stamp on an 1865 check, caught, and a 2-cent orange Bank Check revenue (R6c) subsequently affixed.
Scott # R152b. Added December 16, 2020
Very bold example of the Scott-listed double transfer, with doubled elements in TWO and bottom frame line. Considerably more scarce than the catalogue value implies.
Scott # R152b. Added December 16, 2020
Scott-listed double transfer, with doubled elements in TWO and bottom frame line. Considerably more scarce than the catalogue value implies.
Scott # R152a. Added December 16, 2020
Stray horizontal frame line at top right.
Scott # R152b. Added December 16, 2020
Tool gouge in the numeral 2 at bottom as well as possible double transfer elements in NTS of CENTS.
Scott # R152b. Added December 16, 2020
Muddy/mushy areas of print on the left side of the stamp, possibly the result of the paper bumping against the plate?
Scott # R152b. Added December 15, 2020
Doubled frameline at bottom, the result of a double transfer.
Scott # R152b. Added December 14, 2020
Doubled frameline at upper left, the result of a double transfer.
Scott # R152b. Added December 14, 2020
Doubled frameline at upper left, the result of a double transfer.
Scott # R152b. Added December 14, 2020
Doubled frameline at upper right, the result of a double transfer.
Scott # R65a. Added December 13, 2020
M & E Bank. 2012 APEX certificate.
Scott # 267. Added December 4, 2020
National Black River Bank. Pair of drafts from the National Black River Bank in Proctorsville, Vermont, each with a 2-cent postage stamp used illegally as a revenue stamp, tied with handstamp cancel. One went through uncaught, whereas the other one was caught at the bank where submitted, the National Exchange Bank in Boston, where a revenue stamp was subsequently affixed and hammered by a bold boxed handstamp cancel. The added bonus being that both documents are dated July 1, 1898, the first day of the tax.
Scott # R69a. Added November 26, 2020
???. Listed in Tolman/Shellabear as type P-3, but the company name is not actually listed in the table of contents.
Scott # R15c. Added November 26, 2020
Fuchs Brothers. Vendor of wine, liquors, cigars.
Scott # R113. Added November 25, 2020
Brady's Bend Iron Co. While at first glance it appears to be a handstamped cancel, it is actually a printed cancel. See my page devoted to the cancels of the Brady's Bend Iron Co.
Scott # R33c. Added November 24, 2020
Bold manuscript cancel with great visual contrast.
Scott # R182. Added November 24, 2020
Cambria Steel Co.
Scott # R188. Added November 24, 2020
Mengel Box Co.
Scott # R55c. Added November 24, 2020
3 huge jumbo margins.
Scott # R201. Added November 21, 2020
Unusual and ornate fancy shield cancel.
Scott # R10c. Added November 9, 2020
Mortgage with two $2 Conveyance paying the tax, but what is more interesting is the use of a quadrisected 2-cent Express (R10c) as sigillums (seals for the signature). Very unusual usage, the first example I have seen of a revenue stamp used in this manner.
Scott # R3c. Added November 8, 2020
National Mechanics and Traders Bank. Horizontal pair of 1-cent Proprietary revenues used illegally as documentaries on an 1867 bank check.
Scott # 146. Added November 8, 2020
National Union Bank. Two-cent Andrew Jackson used illegally as a revenue stamp on an 1873 check with an eagle vignette.
Scott # R167. Added November 8, 2020
Reading Mining and Development Co. Very ornately engraved stock certificate.
Scott # R33c. Added November 8, 2020
Continental Insurance Co. Ornately engraved 1869 certificate of profits. Cancel is Tolman C-52c.
Scott # R65c. Added November 8, 2020
This is by far the biggest jumbo of R65c I have ever seen. If not for the pinholes, this would be a candidate for PSE or PF grading.
Scott # 63. Added November 7, 2020
Quincy Mining Co. Very interesting piece. A 1-cent Franklin postage stamp used illegally as revenue, along with a horizontal pair of 10-cent Power of Attorney part perforates on a February 1863 voting proxy (early matching usage) from the Quincy mining company. A similar document (sans illegal usage) is shown in Mike Mahler's book U.S. Revenue-Stamped Documents of the Civil War Era. The proxy was for 3 related family members, hence what should have been 30 cents tax. Either the clerk grabbed the wrong blue stamp in their haste, or they ran out of 10-cent revenue stamps and grabbed something that looked close. Either way, the document is doubly illegal: (1) postage stamp used as revenue, and (2) short payment of the tax.
Scott # R154. Added October 26, 2020
USPS. Mangled 1-cent and 2-cent provisional revenue overprints used illegally as postage long out of period.
Scott # R24c. Added October 25, 2020
Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad. 1st issue 5c Certificate used illegally as postage on a railroad cover. Sadly opened roughly at right, tearing off part of the stamp. Otherwise it would be a $250+ item. Was found along with a 1956 letter from Hugh Shellabear, a renowned revenue collector and author, to the cover's owner describing the cover and its attributes.
Scott # R34c. Added October 25, 2020
USPS. 1st issue 10-cent Contract used illegally as postage, out of period, on an 1895 envelope fragment.
Scott # R135. Added October 24, 2020
USPS. 3rd issue documentary used illegally as postage LONG out of period, on a 1938 cover, caught and 2 cents postage due assessed.
Scott # R164p. Added October 24, 2020
USPS. 2-cent battleship documentary used illegally as postage on a 1927 cover, used out of period.
Scott # R229. Added October 24, 2020
USPS. 2-cent documentary used illegally as postage on a 1921 advertising cover.
Scott # R164. Added October 24, 2020
USPS. 2-cent battleship documentary used illegally as postage on a 1900 cover, caught and held for 10 days until correct postage was affixed.
Scott # R196. Added October 24, 2020
USPS. Horizontal pair of 1-cent documentaries used illegally as postage on a 1915 cover with a preprinted address.
Scott # 65. Added October 24, 2020
3-cent Washington used illegally as a documentary revenue on an 1865 promissory note.
Scott # R13c. Added October 24, 2020
Tioga Railroad Co. 2c Proprietary used illegally as a documentary on an 1865 dividend receipt.
Scott # R32a. Added October 18, 2020
Simon de Visser. Vertical pair showing bold strikes of contrasting red SdeV handstamp cancels.
Scott # R6c. Added October 18, 2020
Not a T5 major double transfer, but about the closest thing to it with respect to the doubling of letters in the bottom scroll.
Scott # R7b. Added October 15, 2020
Listed as a fake because R7b doesn't exist. Likely created from an an imperforate R7a, but the question is why? It doesn't make sense as a philatelic forgery. The perfs are jagged and nonstandard. I posit that it may have been privately done for the sake of expediency and functionality, similar to the private sewing machine perforations. Interesting regardless.
