US Tobacco Revenue Stamps On Their Original Packaging - Cigars, Cigarettes, Snuff, Etc.

I chanced upon an interesting cigarette box today and did not readily find a thread on U.S. tobacco stamps used "on document" so to speak. Thus I am starting one to provide a venue for sharing the variety of tobacco stamps in 3-D. Here is a quick sample - and never be afraid to collect large or 3-D postal or revenue items!

Item 1:
The item found today, a wood box for 100 cigarettes originally sealed with Springer catalog #TA103 taxpaid stamp of 1917. While the label may suggest cigarettes made in bulk in Russia and shipped to Pennsylvania for packaging, I suspect this is entirely American-made, noting also the US-style "copyright 1914" on the main label. I have had the Russian text confirmed as stating essentially the same as the English text.







Item 2:
Springer TB21 taxpaid stamp series of 1901 used in 1910 on a box of 10 Schinasi Brothers "Egyptian Cigarettes". Exterior, interior, and stamp closeup:




Item 3:
Springer TA342b, Series 125 from 1955, on a flattened pack of Raleigh cigarettes.


Item 4:
Tin can for 100 Cavalier cigarettes with five Indiana state decal-style tax paids on the bottom, State Revenue Catalog #IN-C3. I have seen similar uses from other states on Cavalier tins.



Item 5:
And for those who roll their own, Indiana state revenues IN-CPP1 and IN-CPP2 (or maybe the cruder IN-CPP3 for the one cent and an unlisted half-cent variety in the cruder printing style) on a pack of Brown & Williamson cigarette papers.


Item 6:
Springer TC1224 taxpaid stamp on a box of cigars, series 124 from 1954. The second mage is a composite of the top and front to show the reconstructed stamp with its perforated cancel..



Items 7, 8, and 9:
Three snuff tins with snuff taxpaid stamps. Images showing fronts and backs:



Item 7, closeup. Springer TE593 snuff taxpaid, series 110 from 1940, for 3/4 ounce. Still full.


Item 8, closeup. Springer TE448 snuff taxpaid, series 105 from 1935, for 1-1/4 ounces.


Item 9, closeup. Springer TE951 snuff taxpaid, series 125 from 1955, for 2-3/4 ounces. Still full.

I have a whole carton full of similar items put away, they are fun.

John, this great stuff -- thanks for starting a topic on it. Very interesting to see these revenues in their issued form. It makes me wonder what kind of container those massive 250 and 500 cigar strips were used on.

Interesting! Fitting those in an album would be a challenge; but in all seriousness neat seeing how these stamps were used as intended.

There is a large amount of vintage tobacco packaging which has survived to get on ebay, etc. Who throws away an empty cigar box? Unfortunately, many of the revenue stamps have been rather abused. It takes a bit of patience to sift through the listings since the revenue stamp is seldom the most important feature to the seller.

Add; I would never be constrained to collect only things which fit into a flat album. Some of the coolest postal/fiscal things I have found are 3D or larger than 8.5x11.

To each his own of course; but still, really neat to see revenues at "work" so to speak. Excellent stuff.

This is a topic near and dear to my heart. I've been searching for the longest time for examples of 1864 - 1868 tobacco and cigar stamps on piece. Several years ago while doing research on early tobacco stamps at the various Smithsonian museums, I went through the entirety of the tobacco-related items in the Warshaw Archive of Business Americana at the National Museum of American History. And in that collection I found the only example I've ever seen of a 16 oz. tobacco strip stamp on piece. I had assumed that such stamps were strapped across the lids of tins or boxes of tobacco, not bags. Imagine how unwieldy it must have been to stamp these bags!