Stamp Duty Over Print On Victoria One Penny Post Card

Hi,

I'm new to the postal stationery scene. I've come across this post card reply piece, sadly not the entire card. The overprint STAMP DUTY caught my eye.
I've not been able to find a reference to such, hoping someone might be willing to point me in the correct direction. Many thanks.

"Stamp Duty" is common on Victorian postal stationery. Both cards and envelopes.

Finding reference material for postal stationery can be tricky.

The one shown was issued in 1885.

Thank you both for the information. I'm a new entrant to Stationery. I've viewed a lot of Victoria cards. None so far have the vertical stamp duty over print. I know the vertical type setting from stamps that I hold, the period was around 1885 and for a short time. I understand the use of the overprint allowed the 3d, 4d and 1/- to be both postal and duty stamps, just as they allowed duty stamps to be postal, but I couldn't reason why they would apply the same reasoning and type setting to a card.

Mulga Queen,
Geoff Kellow in 'The Stamps of Victoria' notes that the 1883 Post Office Act required that any stamp could be used for revenue or postal purposes. Hence it was decided to aim that all stamps would be inscribed 'STAMP DUTY' by 1st January 1885. New issues were inscribed STAMP DUTY and the existing stock of some issues were overprinted in early and late 1885.

I read in paragraph 3 of the 1883 Post Office Act that the definition of "stamp" includes the stamp impressed on any post card, so existing stock of the reply card that you have shown would probably have been overprinted for the same reason.

Geoff Kellow states that archival records show two printings in January 1885 and June 1886. He also shows the three types of overprint orientation.

The three orientations are also described in the Higgins and Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog, yours being type #2 and with a lower catalogue price (in my 1984 edition) than types #1 and #3.

Thats a marvelous insight to the period and exactly what I was hoping to find in this forum. Thank you so much.

Mulga Queen, Kellow's book on Victoria will be an invaluable resource to have.