Scott 537, Color Variation

Hey everyone, missed philately so I finally made time tonight to look at some stamps. Colors everyone's favorite. Here I present 3 of the same stamp, one very different in color. But is it deep red violet, light reddish violet, or red violet? The color gods are cruel.

It is an environmentally damaged color "changeling".

Those old purples really changed a lot, thanks bud

War tax stamp.

It was postage, but it did exist as the war time first class rate. But that rate had been in effect since November of 1917. So it is really not accurate to call it a war tax stamp. The rate was reduced July 1, 1919, and this stamp was issued March 3, 1919. So it had a short use as a first class stamp.

See here for a number of examples of color changelings
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/A...gelings.html
Don

So what is correct? anybody else chime in?

The war tax was wrapped in to the rate that the stamp paid. Thankfully, that war tax ended not long after the war. The estate tax in the U.S. was juiced to pay for the Great War, and for the most part, never left.

ETA: Scott puts this stamp in the main listings, not the war tax (MR) listings. I've never thought about it, but it seems pretty analogous to the Canada 1T¢ stamp, MR3, which paid postage and the war tax in one stamp. No?

So far not convinced. (But open to conversion)

I bet the USPS did not include the war tax quotient, in their sales inventory.

It's a bit like winning an auction lot for say $100, that's not what you paid,
it then includes 15% buyers premium and postage and packaging.

Anything else is diddling the books.




I did think about it, that's why I kept the post from James
he is an expert on Canadian War taxes.

It's kind of a semi postal (war tax)

There is an obligatory component that separates it from the semis, I believe. But yes, one stamp doing two things.

At that point it was simply the first class postage rate. When the rate originally changed, it might have been accurate to call the 3 cent W/F stamp a war tax stamp, since it really had little use until then. But by this time the war was over and it fulfilled the role of praising the victorious Allies in The Great War at the then current rate. Which as I said earlier, soon reverted to 2 cents.

Interesting, I had not considered that. Very good Sir

Actually, the biggest difference in US philately because of the war was the end of watermarks. Unwatermarked paper was cheaper, and that is why the Bureau stopped using it. And they never returned to it, as least as far as postage was concerned. Revenues still used it.

Except when USIR watermarked paper was used to postage print postage stamps.

The only war tax for mail matter involved parcel post matter, domestic and incoming foreign. In those cases, a tax was to be collected and shown paid with documentary revenue stamps provided by the internal revenue service to the post office. All such revenue generated by that tax and shown by the stamps went directly back to the internal revenue service. It was clearly a collected separately tax. This began 12-1-1917 an ended 12-31-1921.

In the USA the postage rate for first class matter went from two cents to three cents per ounce except drop letters remained two cents and postal or post cards went from one cent to two cents domestically and two cents to three cents internationally. Also second class mailing rates were increased. Here the increases were not collected separately as a distinct tax and forwarded to the internal revenue service. Here the extra postage was collected in the normal manner of stamp sales or payment collected on second class bulk transactions in cash. This began 11-2-1917 and ended 7-1-1919 for first class, the second class implementation and termination dates varied.

At the time the USPOD (not USPS) was part and parcel of the US Government with the Postmaster General a Presidential Cabinet Member. Since the USPOD was part of the federal government and surplus or loss from the USPOD reverted to the general government. Thus any extra income earned from the postage increases flowed into the government in the normal pre-WWI manner. However be aware that the same law that raised the cost of first class postage also allow the free mailing of military (soldier's) mail. Therefore some of the postage increase was balanced out by the new free mailing service. Plus one needs to remember the costs experienced by the postal service increased du to the war time price increases and various shortages. Postage sold based salaries in second, third and forth class offices were frozen at the pre-postage rates. That said, the first class rate increase was estimated to provide the general government $70,000,000 additional money or the estimated total income of $2.5 Billion raised by the tax and postage increases.

That only happened in error. Twice in 1895 with 271a and 272a, and once in 1951 with 832b.