Great Britain 1837 8/6 Stamp

Hi all,

We have an old letter which mentions an 8/6 stamp.

We have no idea what this may be, presumably it is some form of payment but have never come across it before. We have tried a Google search without success.
Any information gratefully received.

The text reads
Quote
Leith 24 Nov 1837
Dear Sir
We have received your favor of the 22nd Inst enclosing an 8/6 stamp signed by you which you wish us to fill up to the extent it will carry at 1 month, and apply the amount in ordering wheat from Danzig. We are of course desirous to meet you in the most liberal manner we can, but we think we mentioned to you, that we are very desirous to avoid as much as possible having paper in circulation and we would prefer your arranging the present deposit in cash, which can be done afer you shall have seen your friend provided he determines to order wheat from Danzig. 1837
Unquote.

Regards
Ron and Eunice

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Postage stamps didn't exist until 1840. "Stamp" in this context means, probably, some kind of a documentary acknowledgement or obligation.

I have trouble understanding what "paper" would suit a promissary note, or similar,
the text is not much to go on.
There is no indication, and I cannot see "wheat" indicated in any govt stamp papers.

There are stamps existing from 1711 when the postmaster General had the monopoly of hiring horses, so certain papers would have existed for other reasons.

Using tvorog's suggestion, which makes a lot of sense, I cannot see in the GB revenues catalogue, and nor should it be really, as notes suggested would have a legal bent, not a tax.

Interesting question.

My suggestion would be to seek information from Hanseatic League specialists,
this may shed some light.

It would obviously have Revenue purposes and not postal as already mentioned. Promissory note sounds right.
I'd suspect it was a blank bill stamp... the revenue was paid and signed for and the recipient had to fill in the blank spaces on the promissory note with the amount that the revenue stamp would cover at the end of one month (prices of commodities such as wheat would be variable even from day to day on the trading markets).

Interesting, thanks Scot.

Decisions of the Court of Session, 1781-1822: in the form of a dictionary

Blank Bill Stamp.

Apparently the price of a commodity like wheat attracted a sliding scale of revenue on import. The higher the price, the lower the tariff. The lowest wheat prices had around 24/- (twentyfour shillings) per quarter (quarter ton) and the higher price had a revenue tariff of 1/- per quarter. Assuming the stamp is for revenue purposes then the most the buyer could have received would be 2.5 tons of wheat which may have been a proportion of a cargo.

This is fascinating stuff!

Those of us who did History O Level many moons ago may recall the challenge of understanding the Corn Laws, which were designed to protect agricultural production, but, by ultimately raising the cost of bread etc, severely disadvantaged urban workers. Their abolition in 1846 was one of the key points in the history of free trade, which Britain drove for the remainder of the Victorian era.

it was not until the Corn Laws amendment in 1828 that the sliding scale was effective. High price of wheat meant low revenue tariff, low price of wheat, higher tariff.
According to the sources I have for a comparable port of entry roughly around that time (Dundee... which would be comparable to the port of Leith (Edinburgh) mentioned in the letter) there was just under 6,000 quarters of Danzig wheat taken to Dundee in the year after the sliding scale was introduced. We're not talking ocean going ships as the main transport would be "coaster" type ships that could hold about 180- 200 tons of mixed cargo.
I believe 8 shillings and sixpence back then would be the equivalent of around £20 today.

"we are very desirous to avoid as much as possible having paper in circulation "
I think these promissory notes, unless a person was specified, could be used like paper money for trading. The "desirous" people may not have wished to have their business affairs known too widely if "paper" such as these notes were doing the rounds.

Many thanks to all for the input on this question.

We certainly were not looking for an 8/6d postage stamp..

Had assumed that it would be something like a promissary note but needed more information.

Some interesting stuff in the replies and it shows that Google searching is a great thing if you know what to specify.

Had we known, or heard of, a 'Blank Bill Stamp' we would have had a result but 8/6 stamp did not cut it!

For anyone interested in these old letters there are heaps on our website (non commercial, information only) at

-/

Heaps of other stuff, stamps, booklets, thematic etc.

Thanks again and regards to all

Ron and Eunice.