Civil War Photo. Was: Postally Used First Series US Revenue?

Now that I have the attention of the revenue guys, I thought I'd get your take on the following item.

It appears to be an R18 on the back of a photographic post card.

Upon closer inspection, it is a photograph pasted to a piece of card. I cannot tell what the card was used for originally, but I am quite certain it was not used as a post card.

The CDS reads: Aug 11, 1865. ...land, ... (unknown city and state).

Brian

Not sure this will answer it for you, but take a look at this thread if you haven't already...
https://goscf.com/t/71

Holy !! I thought I had some sort of forgery, or reuse of a revenue card. I had no idea it was authentic. It's been in an envelope for years as I thought it had no value ...

If you want to get a better handle on usage on Civil War photos (CDVs) as well as see some phenomenal pieces, Bruce Baryla's award-winning exhibit "The Civil War Sun Tax" is well worth reading:

http://web.newsguy.com/bruceb/london/exhibit01.htm

You can read through the pages one by one at full size. It's well worth the time to read.

This website is simply spectacular! Thanks for sharing!

After looking at cancellations on the aforementioned website, I think there's a very good chance that the CDS is from the studio of Dalton in 'Portland, O.' I don't have a scanner, so I can't scan and enhance the cancellation at the moment, but will eventually get it done. Thanks again for the info!

These stamps were required on all photographs in the early days of photography. This is simply a photograph on heavy photo stock paper.

These photographs are collectively known as "carte de visite" and were popular from around the time of the Civil War up to the advent of the Kodak Brownie. In the absence of a federal income tax as we know it, the government taxed all forms of publications including photos. Those types of photos are quite common. I've got about a half dozen (with revenue stamps on the back). I just wish I knew who the people on them were. There is still quite a bit of information out on the Internet about the individual photographers and their studio whose names often appear on the reverse.

If you care to follow up, Mary E Hills was born in 1861, married to Samual G. Hills, lived in Portland in 1910 and died in 1937. That's all I have, compliments of Ancestry.com free stuff.

Excellent! Thank you for the info. It helps to confirm my guess as to where the photo was taken and I'm even more delighted to know she was from my home town.

Man that's really neat Rileysan! Great find!

Great piece Rileysan.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Dianne

Love those old photos especially the tin types!