4 Revenue Bisects On The Same Document... But Why?

This one is a bit unusual. It's an indenture dated December 31, 1864. On it are an R52c along with FOUR (!) bisected 10-cent revenues, together comprising the 50-cent tax on the transaction. From what I can tell from the rate tables, 50 cents is the correct tax on this transaction.

All of the bisects are tied to the document and/or one another, and I can find no evidence of manipulation or contrivance.

The bisects are three R36e, with two of them being opposite halves of the same stamp, and the fourth is a bisected R37b, which is not listed in Scott.

So why would there be four bisects on the same document? I can come up with two scenarios:

1. At one point there was a shortage of 5c revenues, so this office resorted to using bisected 10-cent stamps. Shortly prior to this date they received an allotment of 5-cent revenues, but since there were various and sundry bisected 10-cent stamps floating around the office, they decided to use them up. This would explain the seemingly haphazard organization of the bisects on the document, i.e., that the two opposite halves are not placed side by side on the document.

2. A scatterbrained or trainee clerk. The stamps are not properly canceled with date and initials, rather each has an "X" and then a scrawl running through all the stamps. I can envision a thought pattern something like this:

"Alright, the tax due will be 35 cents, and there... wait, no, sorry 40 cents... yes 40 cents is due. There we go. Wait... heavens, my mistake. I was looking on the wrong line of the table it's actually 45 cents due. There we go, another 5 cents added. So to sum up, a 45-cent tax on a $450 mortgage, and... wait, what? It's a $500 mortgage? Confound it! Alright, there we go, another 5 cents in tax. 50 cents due on $500, correct? Yes? Goodness me..."


Of course we have no way of knowing why the document was created the way it was.

I'm curious as to how this particular document would be perceived by the collecting community, as the bisects were apparently not created specifically for THIS particular document, however they do appear to be legitimately used.

Regardless, I found it to be an interesting curiosity if nothing else, and it was fairly inexpensive. It came to me courtesy of ebay.


Document top:




Close-up of stamps:

I think the clerk had pre-cut bisects in his stamp drawer with 2 piles, left halves and right halves.

I think this is interesting. I had the same question about some Mexican bisects I saw on ebay a while ago, but got no answer for.

https://goscf.com/t/19352&SearchTerms=bisect

Maybe the idea of pre-cut bisects is the way to go.

maybe the guy paid in increments or like stallzer stated that he had some bi-sects in his drawer. Could be just used up damage stock too maybe?