Help Needed On Special Tax Stamp.

I received a lot of Dealer in Manufactured Tobacco stamps and found this overprint of small solid "2" over the three, has anybody else found the same overprint? Also, in the upper right corner is another red overprint stating "NOT TRANSFERABLE", does anybody know if it was common to use this overprint?

JoNo, neither one of those are overprints but regular cancels. What these cancels were applied for I do not know

Peter

To weave a possible scenario: It would appear that the San Francisco office ran out of 1882 forms at the end of the fiscal year, but had already received the blank forms for the next year. Solution was simple, change the date on the newly-arrived 1883 forms back to 1882 in order to finish up the business for the past year. As it turned out, they didn't need to do as many as they overprinted. The unused examples were ultimately returned and hole-punched as remainders to cancel them.

Peter, They are not cancels.

Also,it was convenient to use the 1883 since they were devalued to $2.40 on March 3, 1883. I have two different types of devaluation overprints covering the original black $5. Does anybody know how many were used? I was going to send pictures of devaluation overprints but the site wont let me upload image page.

The stamp you posted is a Deats & Sterling remainder. For that particular stamp (1883 Dealer in Manufactured Tobacco), they purchased 60,128 copies. Some number of those were overprinted for 1882 use with a manuscript 2, a curved 2, or a straight 2 (your stamp). Additionally, many 1882 were hand stamped "Not Transferrable". While not as common as the 1883 without overprints, they are still well known and not particularly rare.

Also, I wouldn't call them cancels since special tax stamps weren't canceled. They were provided to prove that the business or individual had paid their tax for that year.

Thanks for the info sideshow, how many of the 1883 were revalued $2.40 over the $5.00?

The number of remainders given in the Hines book doesn't indicate the different categories. He only gives the number for each year. For 1883, he indicates that they purchased 60,128 copies. The number of those revalued is included in that 60,128 so a precise figure isn't available. A quick look on Eric Jackson's website gives a good indication of the relative rarity though. Based on the price for a D&S 1883 and a D&S 1883 revalued to $2.40, both $5, it appears that the two are equally common. Copies that were actually used command a higher premium as they are scarcer.