Help Identify Odd French Stamp

Any ideas what this is?

It is a French revenue stamp. 1870s, or so.

Thanks Cjd. It's interesting with all the handwriting, no? Does any of it indicate what it was used for? I guess I'm not exactly sure what revenue stamps are.

Revenue stamps generally paid a fee or tax of some sort. Everything could be taxed, from beer and wine, to tobacco, to contracts, deeds, even prostitutes. If there was commerce going on, some government has tried to tax it at some point in time, and revenue stamps showed payment of the tax.

Revenue stamps are often canceled by handwriting, and in this case, the stamp was designed to be filled in when it was used, so there is more writing than is often the case.

Revenue stamps don't get nearly as much love as postage stamps, but they have their own charms, and I like them.

I forgot I have the Forbin catalogue on my phone. This is France Effets de Commerce #184 from 1879. You can see that the preprinted "7" was "overprinted" with a handwritten "8" to make this usage 1881.

This is the lowest face value in a large set of almost 30 values. The tax that was being paid was assessed at the rate of 5c per 100 Francs. At the time Forbin was printed, 100 years ago, this stamp had a very low catalogue value, so it must have been common then.

Yes I see the prostitution tax. That explains the prostitute's name and the extra writing, and of course the picture depicting two people engaged in solicitation.

Seriously though, thanks for all that info. I'm going through a bunch of old stamps right now and I'm having a blast with all this interesting stuff. ...After receiving an answer that thorough, a guy almost feels indebted. :)

If it moves, tax it.

Neat stamp, I don't see many France revenues so far, Busy collecting (read accumulating) regular stamps and cancels.

Google "French Revenues" and you may see dozen of photos that could prove helpful towards identification of your stamp. This method works fairly well in identifying foreign, used, not listed in Scott items from private labels, tax, and charitable revenue purposes during or post wartime issuance. Good luck with this search. Check Scott for the French Specialty group with an email address also.

Thanks and good advice.