R60 - What Was It's Use?

I'm still digging through a collection that I inherited a few years ago. It has a smattering of stamps mounted in a 1947 Scott International album. Still finding treasures here and there (like the #573...I think...$5 America stamp, perfin...cool!) Combing through the U.S. stamps, I came across an interesting revenue stamp I've never seen. It's mounted on a space marked 'R60'. I don't necessarily believe that is it's proper identification, but I'll go with it for now. I'll get a scan soon if needed, but it's long and vertically oriented, Washington, blue, 50c, says 'original process' along the bottom. So...what the heck is it? What was is used for? What is 'original process"? How old is it? It looks unused, but there doesn't seem to be any gum on the back. Maybe not mint, but very good condition. Nicely centered, and no cancel on it. Did they cancel revenues? I'm hoping someone can educate me a bit here.

It's fun to me that I can have been collecting for over 40 years, and I still find new things to learn about. Since I've reached a point with U.S. stamps where I am either picking up new issues, or hoping to fill holes at the front of the book but can't really afford them, revenues seem to be calling to me. I also found a small revenue on blue paper that I haven't had a chance to try to identify yet. Pretty stamp. Are revenues pricey, or can you obtain many of them reasonably?

The 50 cent original process is indeed Scott R60, it is one of the first issue revenues. Original process was used to pay the taxes on writs and other original documents for a suit in court. The stamps were only actually used based on their titles for a very short time, it was an impractical idea and was soon dropped.

So 1862 is accurate? That's pretty cool. You said first issue. Revenues began with the Civil War? I guess I assumed they went back farther than that.

Like any collecting area, there are revenues that were used by the billions and are very inexpensive, and revenues that were rarely used and are very expensive. But it's a great area to get into and there are many interesting areas to collect without having to go broke to do so.

Revenue stamps do go back earlier, but they are not adhesives, but embossed revenue stamped paper. They are listed in Scott, there is a large revenue section.

And since you didn't lose your mind over the identity of this stamp, I'll assume it's one of the ones used by the billions. Not that I'm looking to sell it or get rich. I was just looking to learn about what I found and added to my collection.

None of the first issues were used by the billions, but there was probably at least a million of this one printed so they are common.

Thanks for all the info. Good stuff. Can I assume the stamp I mentioned that's on blue paper was printed in the millions as well? A quick Google search tells me it's R152, but I'm sure there are many varieties of stamps with this face.

MANY millions, far more then the original process. There are actually only 3 types of this stamp. One is on silk paper and two are on watermarked paper. The silk paper is very obvious from the back, there would be a lot of blue threads in the stamp. The watermarked paper is either perforated or rouletted. The roulette version is much less common.

All good info. Thanks for the education!

To really understand revenue stamps, you almost have to be a lawyer. Some are labeled "PROTEST." What does that mean?

Don

It was a type of 19th century legal proceeding.

https://goscf.com/t/18379

I keep feeling a draw toward revenues precisely because I am a lawyer. Lol. One of these days I'm going to get more into that area of collecting.

Revenues basically fall into six tax categories: Alcohol, Tobacco, Food Products, Narcotics, and Financial Paper, plus a catchall for anything that does not really fit into the other five, such as playing cards, photographs and firearms transfer tax. It's the financial paper that usually make people think legal training is a good idea, but there is a lot of information out there already on rates, etc.