A Matched Pair Of Scott #286 (2-Cent Trans-Mississippi) Illegal Usage Revenue Documents

I finally got around to imaging this pair of documents that I received last month. They check all the boxes (in my opinion) and would be great exhibit pieces. Not for sale though.

They are a pair of dividend checks from the "Augusta, Hallowell & Gardiner Railroad Co." in Augusta, Maine.

One illegal usage went through undetected, and the other one was caught and a revenue stamp properly affixed the following day. Great usage contrast.

Oh, and to add icing to the cake, both documents are used on the first day of tax, July 1, 1898.

Plain Jane Trans-Mississippi illegal usages are routinely $150-250 items; I've seen them top $300 at major auctions. Add the 1st day usage into the mix, and who knows the scarcity. Based on the check numbering, there should be more out there.

That's pretty cool. Don't you go soaking those stamps off now!

Or, turn your back on the local youth group.

Nice. 7th dividend. And by those #'s there are not too many more out there, if they still exist. 223÷7= average maybe in 30's.

Mike

The only reason for the revenue would have been some kind of legal issue. No one but the courts really cared. The banks sure didn't; they were not responsible for the tax payment.