Last updated December 27, 2025 Census of Civil War-Era Stamped Pawn Tickets

Stamped pawn tickets from the Civil War era are extremely scarce; only a small number are known to exist. Why is that? Well, simply put: nobody saved them... there was no reason to. Once a pawn loan was repaid or the decision made to give up the pawned items, there was no longer a reason to keep a pawn ticket. Stamped legal and financial transaction documents, on the other hand, were retained by court houses, financial institutions, or individuals for long-term reference or reconciliation. The pawnbroker had their own ledgers to track their end of the transaction; the pawn ticket was only needed to regain the pawned items

Also, pawn tickets tended to be small in size, typically smaller than a quarter of a modern-day letter-sized sheet of paper. They were easily disposed of or lost. The word that Mike Mahler uses to describe them in his book "U.S. Revenue Stamped Documents of the Civil War Era" is ephemeral, meaning "lasting for a very short time."... the perfect descriptor.

This page is my effort to document known examples of revenue-stamped pawn tickets from the Civil War era, both with adhesive revenue stamps affixed, and with revenue imprints (Scott RN series).

If you have or know of additional examples not shown below, and are willing to contribute images to this census, please contact me.

Transparency: The Use of AI

In some cases, the only available image is extremely low resolution and/or is heavily artifacted. In this case, I may use an AI-upscaled image for legibility. These are not perfect, although the technology is getting better all the time. In cases where I have used AI, I will provide BOTH the original image and the AI-generated upscale for comparison.

Pawn Ticket Census (Currently 19 Total Documents)

Below are all of the examples for which I have been able to locate images. If you have any examples not shown, or better quality images, and would like to contribute to the census, please email me.

The dates covered range from 1864 to 1872, with the majority falling at the tail end of that timeline.
Two are taxed with a 3rd issue revenue, one with an imprinted RN, and the remainder with 1st issue revenues.
Reported examples are almost entirely from New York and Philadelphia, with one in Boston and one in San Francisco, the last being the only reported example not on the east coast.

My thanks to the following individuals who contributed images to this census: Mike Mahler, Eric Jackson, and Tim Wait.

Click on any of the images below to open a high-resolution version in a new browser window.
Click on any of the column heads to sort based on that column or reverse the sort.

☀ = The item shown is from my personal collection.

Census No.	City & State	Business Name	Address	Year	Stamp	Image	Notes
PWN-19 ☀	New York, NY	R. Rich	45 Eighth Avenue	1869	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-18 ☀	New York, NY	Boas Levy	615 Hudson Street	1869	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-17 ☀	New York, NY	Boas Levy	615 Hudson Street	1869	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-16 ☀	Boston, MA	Pawner's Bank	35 Union Street	1868	RN-P5 (5c Lincoln)
PWN-15 ☀	San Francisco, CA	L. Millsner & Co.	752 Washington Street	1866	R25c (5c Express)
PWN-14	Philadelphia, PA	Jacob Myer's Girard Licensed Loan Office	1200 North Second Street	1872	R137 (5c Orange & Black)
PWN-13	Philadelphia, PA	Jacob Myer's Girard Licensed Loan Office	1200 North Second Street	1872	R137 (5c Orange & Black)
PWN-12	Philadelphia, PA	Jacob Myer's Girard Licensed Loan Office	1200 North Second Street	1871	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-11	Philadelphia, PA	Jacob Myer's Girard Licensed Loan Office	1200 North Second Street	1871	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-10 ☀	Philadelphia, PA	Isaac Saller's Girard Licensed Loan Office	1200 North Second Street	1870	R24c (5c Certificate)
PWN-09	Philadelphia, PA	Isaac Saller's Girard Licensed Loan Office	1200 North Second Street	1870	R24c (5c Certificate)
PWN-08 ☀	Philadelphia, PA	Isaac H. Fridenberg	Ninth & Buttonwood Streets	1869	R24c (5c Certificate)
PWN-07	Philadelphia, PA	S. M. & L. E. Fridenberg's People's Loan Office	Seventh & Poplar Streets	1869	R24c (5c Certificate)
PWN-06	Philadelphia, PA	S. M. & L. E. Fridenberg's People's Loan Office	Seventh & Poplar Streets	1869	R24c (5c Certificate)	Original: AI-Upscaled:
PWN-05 ☀	Philadelphia, PA	Isaac Nathans, Auctioneer and Money Broker	308 South Sixth Street	1864	R25c (5c Express)		Stylized star of David handstamp cancel
PWN-04	New York, NY	Solomon Stern	118 West 27th Street	1869	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-03	New York, NY	R. Rich	45 Eighth Avenue	1869	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)
PWN-02	New York, NY	D. Meehan & Co.	157 Laurens Street	1869	R24c (5c Certificate)
PWN-01	New York, NY	Boas Levy	615 Hudson Street	1869	R27c (5c Inland Exchange)