Revenue - Meredith $20 - 1940

I'm wondering if it is because of the size that this wasn't marked 'Series 1940'? Then again, is it a real one? (It measures out mm & perfs to specs.) Were/are 'revenues' forged as much as the other types of stamps?

Looks like #R678, the 1954 issue of 1c to $20 without overprints.
Bill

Absolutely real. These were never forged to my knowledge, although occasionally the higher values above $30 get reperfed by someone unaware that thew were all issued with at least one straightedge.

wbrob - Thank you for responding. Shouldn't the 1954 have a watermark? I don't find one on this that I have. Also, it looks like, from the Scotts I have, that the 1954 has gum and after the R678 it was without gum. Of course, I'm new at this and really haven't gotten the hang of Scotts, yet - and an old copy, to boot.

Edit: for spelling

revcollector - Thank you. However, the other response did get me to thinking - sometimes hard to want to do on a Friday. It got me to go back and examine more of what I should have in the first place.

revcollector - I think I'm missing the meaning of 'straightedge'. Off to the glossary!

I have nothing to compare it to, but the flyspecker in me suggests that I at least mention it.

Look back at the original scan and especially focus on the two "L"'s in the word "DOLLARS". It appears to me the second "L" is slightly larger. Is that normal for this issue or is it an anomaly worth mentioning?

revcollector - I continued to read and I saw the light.

None of the documentary "reds" are watermarked. All the values from $30 and up for the 1940 style series of documentary, stock transfer, and silver tax issues were issued without gum. They were issued in panes of four with a tab on the left for taxpayer information.

wt1 - It may be my scanner. There would be a white background if I hadn't used some dark paper behind. However, I got lazy and didn't trim it to size. It is course/stiff paper for the back of picture frames and, what's more, it had been rolled. Well, longer story somewhat shorter, I didn't take the care I should have. I will correct that.

Wt1, it does appear that the first L is slightly smaller than the second L. I have no idea if that is a costant plate flaw.

It is not a "plate flaw", it is just how the die was engraved.

Wasn't sure if I should create a new topic, however contextually this thread seems appropriate. I have four stamps from the above mentioned Series 1940 which appear to have tape residue; and another set of four from "Series 1946". Input welcomed. Thanks for looking!

Questions:

1) Should I soak them or is the convention to leave as-is attached to revenue document clipping?

2) My R305A doesn't have a straight edge… is that normal?

3) How does tape residue effect value?


Series 1940, Scott US: R305A, R305, R297, R297

UPDATE: Series 1954, Scott US: R678, R677, R663, R663



Series 1946, Scott US (LRTB): R451, R447, R440, R442

The red dated documentary stamps were watermarked double line USIR. The denominations up through the $20 were not overprinted with a Series beginning in 1954. The purpose of the Series overprints was that they could only be used in the year of issue and one year later. After that they were demonetized. The motivation for this practice was to prevent reuse of the stamps. Normally the retention period for documents was three years. If at that point they were soaked off, they could not reused. In late 1958 the Series overprints were discontinued with all the higher denominations as well. The stamps were discontinued completely at the end of 1967.

As with the other revenues that were still being printed in the 1960's, the papers had either a very light watermark or in the case of the narcotic tax stamps and the playing card stamps the watermarks were completely eliminated. The documentation of the elimination of the watermarks is well studied in the case of the narcotic and playing card tax stamps. Alas, the red documentary stamps have not been so well studied. You may be correct that your stamps have no watermark, but it might very well be the light or faint watermarked paper that you have.

The red documentary stamps had four uses, pay the taxes on: the transfer of real property (deeds); sale of bonds; transfer of stock; and foreign insurance policies. All of these taxes were eliminated at the end of 1967.

@revenuemd Thanks for those insights! I edited my post to: Series 1954, Scott US: R678, R677, R663, R663. The clipping has year 1962 printed which matches the stamps overprint year. The perf measures 11 - 72.25, but I cannot discern a watermark without detaching.