A Very Different Sort Of US Customs Fee Document

Admittedly, the deeper back-of-book revenue stamps are not my strong suit. I have representative examples of certain types, or where cancels or documents catch my eye for one reason or another, but I don't do a "deep dive" when it comes to their creation or usage.

That said, I see enough of them at shows, in live auctions, and online, just because they are revenue items, that I think I have at least developed a sense for what might be unusual or scarce.

I've encountered U.S. Customs Fee stamps (Scott # RL series) on document from time to time. Eric Jackson and Richard Friedberg will have examples in their inventory fairly regularly. The documents I have seen have always been in one of two formats:

(Images courtesy of Eric Jackson's inventory; I don't currently own any examples.)

1. Withdrawal entry of merchandise form.




2. A much smaller application for certificate of weight or gauge of merchandise.




Those were the only two types of documents I had seen with Scott #RL stamps affixed... until approximately a month ago.

During my miscellaneous and sundry searches on eBay, an auction listing came up with a Scott #RL1 tied to a letter with an embossed seal... very out of the norm, in my limited exposure. So I laid in wait and sniped it. Viewing the seller's prior auctions, he had sold one a few weeks prior at about half the price I paid (dang it!). As it turns out, that example had been purchased by another revenue specialist I know.

I contacted the seller to find out whether he had any others. He said he had two remaining, that he might be listing at some point.

Well, the week after I received the document, I happened to be over at Denny Peoples' house in Indianapolis, wanting to look through his wares immediately prior to Garfield Perry and the St. Louis Stamp Expo, knowing he would be picked bone dry once those had passed.

I showed him the document and his eyes lit up. RL1 is one of the few stamps the specializes in and is currently plating. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse for the document. The only reason I passed the document onward was that I knew there was at least the possibility of obtaining another.

So fast forward to that evening when I got back home. I contacted the seller and explained that another collector had fallen in love with the document so I traded it away, and would he be willing to list document #3. He agreed, and listed it at auction, and to be safe I set my snipe at 1.5x what I had paid for the previous document, which was already 2x what the first one went for.

All good, right?... Wrong. I ended up the underbidder on #3.

"Oh [CENSORED!]" Now what?

I contacted the seller one last time, lamenting what had happened (but good for him!), asking whether he would be willing to do a direct sale for the last letter rather than an auction, letting him set the price.

He agreed, and to his credit, said he would accept an offer equal to what I originally paid for the one I originally purchased, not the higher auction result he got for #3.

So all is well that ends well, but man I took a risk of coming away empty.

Here are the seller's images of the 4 letters in question, presumably all from the same source (they are all dated the same day and signed by the same person). Even doing online research after the fact subsequently, I've not seen any similar examples.

Do others exist? Were these SOP or just a one-time need or deviation by this deputy collector?

wow, this was very interesting Thanks for posting this revenuecollector.

Much scarcer are documents with RL2, the 30¢ denomination. Here are the two sides of such a document.

Ron - I was about the post the exact same thing - RL2 is much harder to find on document. I have two, both used by Lanman & Kemp

I realize that any denomination other than the 20-cent is in a different league of scarcity. My point was simply about the *types* of documents with RL1 on them that I had seen, not vs. other stamp types.

Very nice pickup, as a underbidder on these I am happy for you