A Nice Civil War Military Cdv

Fresh from ebay:

I bid on this CDV (Carte de Visite) primarily because of the photographer and cancel, although military subject matter on CDVs is always in demand.

A. K. Josselyn was a photographer stationed at Gallop's Island, Mass.

Gallop's Island is an island in the Boston Harbor, now uninhabited. During the Civil War it was the home of a military training and mustering out camp housing 3,000 Union soldiers.

I felt it was a fairly unique location with respect to handstamped cancels.

The reason that the cancel is not tied to the CDV is that photographer cancels were almost universally precanceled. Photographers would stack their CDVs, and if the cancel were fresh, the wet ink would offset onto the next CDV. That is why, unlike with covers, the lack of the cancel being tied is NOT an indicator of the usage being nonauthentic.

Very nice rev.

So the 3c was a federal tax on every photo?

The stamp duty rates were 2 cents on a price of 25 cent or lower, 3 cents on a price of 26 to 50 cents, 5 cents on a price of 51 cents to $1, and 5 cents on each additional dollar or part thereof.

Thanks rev.

But why specifically put a tax/duty on photos?
Governments have and still tax the hell
out of items like gas, booze & cigarettes (sin tax) or the infamous salt tax
in pre-revolutionary eighteenth century France but
Photos?
I wonder which other items had a specific tax or duty on
them which I suppose was necessary to pay for the war.

Can't answer the question, but here is one I have.