The 1st-3rd Issue U.S. Revenues
The first 3 issues of U.S. Revenues are some of the most
beautifully engraved stamps ever issued by the U.S. These
stamps were used between 1862 and 1874, to pay taxes to the
U.S. Government on documents and proprietary articles.
The first series, which interests me the most, is comprised
of many more stamps than the second and third issues. There are
four main "varieties" of each denomination/type (not every type
existed in every variety):
- Old Paper
- Generally the most common variety, perforated 12,
plain paper (Scott catalog letter c)
- Imperforate
- Same as above, but with no perforations between
the stamps (Scott catalog letter a)
- Part Perforated
- An amalgam of the above two, perforated either
horizontally or vertically, and imperforate in the
other direction (Scott catalog letter b)
- Silk Paper
- Starting in mid-1870, many issues were printed
on an experimental silk paper (multicolored threads
sparsely interwoven in the paper) (Scott catalog
letter d)