Have A US Inter.rev. 2 Cent Bank Check Stamp I Need Help With

I wanted to learn more on this stamp and noticed their are different types that appear similar. I noted the date and am amazed at the age, so I want to make sure I found out all I could. Again, still consider myself a beginner so any extra resources would be welcome if you know of any. Treina





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

YOu should post this in the back of book US area. That is where all the revenue stamp experts hang out. If you use the "send note to staff" link in the bottom right corner of your post you can ask them to move the post there. They are more than happy to do it.

Ok thank you

Tax was charged on bank checks for a time; this stamp proved payment. It could be cancelled in ink like this, also by punching/cutting or handstamp as well. However, by about 1863, stamps marked "bank check" could be used for any tax purpose. You can imagine this revenue stamp is very common as it was required on every bank check for years.

See the link in the first post below to see how these were used on checks:
https://goscf.com/t/52215

Much apreciation
Treina

Actually, hy-brasil, is quite right, the "BANK CHECK" stamp could not be used on proprietary instruments! Just wanted to be accurate Treina

Thank you everyone. I'm liking my stamps more and more. Much history in the telling.

The memo making all stamps except proprietaries legal for any documentary purpose was sent out in December of 1862. Playing cards and proprietaries were allowed interchangeably on proprietary articles. That's why most proprietary values are fairly to very common and most playing cards stamps are not, they stopped printing them.

Hello Treina!

Welcome to the world of revenue stamps. Revenue stamps, such as the one you posted, was first issued by the government to help pay for the civil war. A tax was imposed on a variety of things. The stamp was placed on the item purchased and cancelled as proof of payment of the tax.

Wikipedia can give you a good grounding in the history of the topic so that you can learn the basics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reven...nited_States

The stamp you posted has the Scott catalog number of R6c. It is one of the more common first issue revenue stamps. This first group of stamps (first issue) was used primarily from late 1862 until the early 1870s. Although this stamp was issued to pay the 2c tax on writing a check (yes they paid a tax to write a check!), it was often used to pay for a variety of transactions that also costs 2c, such as a photograph (search ebay for CDV and stamp for an example).

It is easy to get addicted to revenue stamps. You can't just stop with one.

RevHound
Thank You! Love the teaching. To me they are beauties ( Revenue Stamps). I only have a few, but am stilling in my early stages of Collecting.