British Colonies - Revenue Cancels On High Value Stamps

How many times have you seen high value stamps that were cancelled and wondered if it was a postal cancellation or a revenue one.

I thought it might be interesting to see how many revenue usages can be found.

Here is one example from Trinidad. The Registrar General cancellation is always a revenue cancel.

Does anyone else have any other scans to contribute, and what do you think revenue used stamps should be worth?

It's a cost-effective way to fill some of those elusive holes in the collection. Just keep in mind that the market value is 5-10% of catalog value for fiscal cancels.

Many unknowledgeable or devious sellers try to get full freight for fiscal cancelled stamps, realizing that many American collectors are unaware of the distinction that the non-U.S. marketplace applies to fiscal cancels on non-U.S. stamps.

On U.S. postage stamps, fiscal cancels actually command a premium, because it was illegal to use postage stamps as revenues and revenue stamps as postage, whereas in (most of?) the rest of the world, such usages were not illegal, so they are more common and tend to be shunned by collectors.

For the aesthetic collector, large-format fiscal cancels can be extremely attractive.

As mentioned by revenuecollector it is "a cost-effective way to fill some of those elusive holes in the collection" and for many of us the only possible way.

For example Rhodesia (British South Africa Company) £5 deep blue and £10 lilac, SG92 and SG93 catalogued postally used at £2500 and £2250 respectively would be way out of my price range postally used.



The British Bechuanaland SG21, £5 lilac and black unappropriated die of 1888 catalogued used at £1600 is almost affordable by comparison but still way out of my league.




For the most part fiscal cancellations of Rhodesia and Bechuanaland are easily identifiable by a violet, manuscript, or perfin cancellation or combination of the three.
One has to be wary of suppsedly used examples of the high values, they are very often cleaned fiscal cancellations overlaid by a forged postmark.

These three stamps were all purchased on ebay a few years ago, I don't recall exactly what I paid, but I am sure that it was no more than US$10 to US$15 each.
Clive

Here is another group of revenue usage high values from Malaya.
Note the Stamp Office cancellation. That is always a revenue usage.

My feeling with high value used British Colonies is that they were all used a revenues unless proven otherwise by something like a registered cancel, or some other clearly postage cancellation.

This one is pretty obvious.

Most of the Bermuda 12/6 King George VI stamps were used for revenue purposes. There was a 12/6 exit tax and the stamps were used to pay the tax. You will see various cruise ship and airline cancellations on them.

Five to add to this thread.

The first one may or may not be a revenue cancel but the "p.p." has always made me wonder if it's "postage paid".



The Nyasaland is ? Commissioner Blantyre. Hut tax perhaps?

The Kenya & Uganda is a Law Courts cancel.

Maybe "on behalf of" - per pro?

Thank you Geoff

Makes perfect sense.

The Nyasaland cancel is Dist. Commissioner Blantyre.

Thanks 22crows. I have the £1 with the same cancel, albeit a much heavier strike.

I like this type of cancel

Here is one I found today on an on-line auction site.

For many years British stamp dealers were selling them to unexpected U.S. customers because Scott had no notice or the warning was buryed about them to notify collectors . Then American dealers started it with full catalog pricing for them to new or beginner collectors .

Unscrupulous pricing is one reason I started this topic.

I see a lot of high value British Colonies clearly used as revenues offered at very high prices. This is just a way to collect examples to be used as reference for collectors.

Been going on before I was born .....just a fact of life . It is one of the safe ways of making money in the stamp trade ,hey nobody goes to jail .

It is more than people just offering them at postal used prices, there is a significant amount of faked postal cancels over washed/cleaned/removed revenue cancels in the Commonwealth high value marketplace.
Don