2017 Chicagopex Acquisitions. Part 3: Revenue Documents

This is part 3 of the material I acquired at Chicagopex, this one devoted to revenue documents.

I'll start with a document I actually acquired about a month before the show. It's one that Ron (revenuermd) had posted about here back in August. Huron County, Michigan must have had an intermittent issue with revenue stamp supply, as there are a host of illegal usages on marriage certificates from that county in 1898 and 1899.

This particular document has a 10-cent postage stamp (Scott 273) with a violet provisional "IR" overprint. However, it is not the same overprint as used on Scott R156-R158, which were also privately produced. Rather it is a smaller overprint using a different font.

Richard Friedberg just had a similar document that he sent into the PF and got a cert on, and he plans to lobby Amos to include this after R158, or at least a mention via footnote. I contemplated buying it, but Richard's example sold in short order for $1,000, which was more than I wanted to pay.

That is also what the seller of the example I obtained wanted for his, but I was able to work out a trade that brought the final cost down considerably. I will likely send mine in for a cert at some point, referencing the cert from Richard's example.




Now, on to the Chicagopex pickups...

First, a lovely CDV, where the point of interest is not the stamp or cancel, but rather the backstamp: a very ornate large-format stencil. Given how other photographer backstamp stencils have been used, it is quite possible that there are examples where this was also used as a stamp cancel, which I would love to find.




An 1863 insurance premium receipt with a 25-cent Bond imperf (R43a) affixed. The Bond imperfs are fairly scarce on document. Actually, far too many R43a on the market are trimmed part perfs.




Next, an illegal usage of postage as revenue on an 1863 check. Additionally, the tax was underpaid, as it should have been 2 cents. While there was a 1-cent inland exchange rate for promissory notes, there was no such animal for checks.




This is a bank check made out to Marc (Marel? Marcel?) Kuntz, of the Kuntz Brewery, and the stamp is canceled with their beer stamp cancel. Unusual.




Attractive bill of lading with a paddle-wheel steamer vignette, featuring handstamp cancels with the steamship's name and the captain's name.




Attractive billhead from the Ames Plow Co.




A ratty and tattered, yet still attached second and third bills of foreign exchange, with R25c and California revenue affixed. From Mike Mahler's book on Civil War revenue stamped documents (emphasis added):




So if the standard practice by the 1860s was that the 2nd and 3rd were held in reserve, why are there stamps affixed to these? Wouldn't the tax on the transaction been applied to the 1st? Or is this a case where the 1st didn't make it?... and if that were the case, wouldn't the 2nd and 3rd then have been separated with the 3rd held in reserve?




Illegal usage of revenue as postage on a picture postcard, with a great strike of an RPO cancel.




R15 bisect as part of a strip of 3, paying 5 cents tax on an 1870 contract (agreement).




Memo for a transfer of silver bullion interest, unusual in that 1 cent tax was paid despite no tax being owed. Perhaps there was a 1-cent minimum in order to process the form?




1872 3rd bill of exchange, New York to London, from Louis Iken (cotton broker), cancelled with a large format device that Iken used to modify his business checks upon the break-up of his partnership (the bar obliterated the previous business name).




This is a very unusual certificate, an underwriter renewal certificate. I've not seen one before, nor had anyone at Chicagopex who I showed it to. As a bonus, it has a great ornate insurance agent handstamp cancel.




Bill of lading from the Boston and Providence Railroad, with an illegal usage of a 2-cent Blackjack as revenue.




Monthly railroad pass, taxed as an agreement (see language above stamp). There are some very beautiful railroad passes with RNs imprinted upon them, but they are incredibly expensive. The ones like this from the Civil War era are actually less common, but they bring less.




An 1866 dog license from Brookline, Mass., with a dog's head vignette. Very uncommon document type. Reading the text of the statutes, it's clear that while while there were penalties for harming a licensed dog, society of the time had no love for unlicensed animals, which were to be killed on sight. The SPCA would not approve...







A colorfully printed envelope of perfume powder with RB21 affixed, with "S.P.H. 1899" (Standard Perfume House) straight line cancel.



Scott # RO157a, proprietary match stamp from D. M. Richardson, used illegally/improperly as a documentary on an 1867 handwritten receipt.




This next one is a great piece. Not only is it a first day of tax usage, which are highly sought after, but it is also an illegal/improper usage, with RB28 2-cent proprietary battleship used instead of a documentary. A double whammy!




Gorgeous Phillips & Jordan Iron Company stock certificate, featuring an R112 with socked-on-the nose cancel at right along with a hammered matching embossed seal at left. What really takes this certificate to 11 is the manufacturing vignette at center. It may not be apparent in the scan, but it is printed in reflective metallic bronze, extremely unusual.






This may very well be the largest ornate handstamp cancel I have ever seen, on a billhead from Jacob Ritter, "importer of bolting cloths". The branding in the cancel text matches the branding at upper left on the billhead. Gorgeous!





Lastly, a very scarce bisect, Scott # RB4d on a complete label for a trial size of "Fish's Saratoga Asperient". The regular size would have been taxed at 4 cents, hence the 2-cent tax. Scott lists but does not price RB4d. This is the first example I have ever seen.

Bart's (revcollector) brother Michael, who saw it at a previous show was excited to see it, as it matches almost exactly, one that he purchased approximately 40 years ago. The two examples help corroborate one another. Michael is submitting his example to the PF for a cert along with images of this example, and I likely will do the same with mine.

An image of Michael's example follows mine.

The big question I have is where did the Richardson Match stamp come from? Unless it was removed from the box before it was opened.

No way to know. The initials and penmanship style match the document signature.

Similarly, where would tis have come from? We'll never know.

That is a fantastic group of revenues on documents. I particularly liked the use for postage and the illegal uses of postage stamps in lieu of revenue stamps.

Out of curiosity, are any of those usages possibly provisional? Particularly, the proprietary first day used instead of documentary? It would seem that there should have been sufficient stamps on hand for first day use, wouldn't it?

The transfer of silver bullion indeed required a 1¢ stamp to authenticate the transaction. I have a similar example.

I have never been convinced about that Newton usage. Without having the full cover there is no way to know what the postage rate was, and 7 cents has limited applications that cannot be proved here. As for that proprietary first day, they might well have gotten the stamp at the bank and a clerk just grabbed the wrong one. Just a first day mistake.

I can see that as a reasonable explanation. Would the stamp have been affixed when the check was issued or presented to the bank for payment?

No way to know, it could have been either one. It wasn't actually needed until it was presented for payment to a person or an institution. Since it's probably a paycheck from the look of it, the construction company probably got a supply and the mistake was made.

Thank you for sharing your finds - I enjoyed looking through them. I collect RPO's and was tickled to see the PPC with the Battleship Documentary. I have quite a few PPC RPO's with unusual and illegal usages but not one like yours. Nice find.