$5,000 Documentary Second Issue revenue stamp trial color proof
Object Details
- Description
- The $5,000 revenue essay is technically a proof of an un-issued value. The Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue approved the $5,000 revenue stamp's design on June 24, 1872. Its colors were to be red orange, dark green, and black. However, since there was no call for the $5,000 denomination, no stamps were printed from the die. A combined total of twenty-six proofs and trial color proofs exist, eleven of which reside at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
- Prior to 1871, the largest denomination revenue stamp was $200. This presented a problem for the very largest commercial transactions, generally railroad mortgages. In 1871, a $500 stamp was issued. The $500 value apparently satisfied the needs of commerce because only 204 copies of the stamp were issued before the majority of Civil War-era documentary taxes were repealed.
- Joseph Carpenter, proprietor of the private company holding the printing contract, wrote to the Treasury Department, "I send you the $5,000 stamp approved in the colors in which it is to be printed in case we have an order for this stamp - a very improbable contingency." The $5,000 stamp would have paid the tax on a $5,000,000 mortgage, an enormous sum of money in the 1870s.
- This is only copy of the essay printed using a color combination of dark blue, dull red and black. The essay is mounted on card.
- References:
- Kingsley, T.C., 1993. The Legendary Persian Rug: And The Other High-Value Civil War Revenue Stamps. Pacific Palisades: Castenholz & Sons.
- Toppan, G.L., H.E. Deats and A. Holland. 1899. An Historical Reference List of the Revenue Stamps of the United States. Boston: Boston Philatelic Society. Reprinted as The Boston Revenue Book. Lawrence, MA: Quarterman Publications, 1979.
- 1871
- Object number
- 0.203453(1).18.24.1
- Type
- Revenue Stamps
- Medium
- paper; ink (dark blue, dull red, black) / engraved
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 12.1 x 7.5cm (4 3/4 x 2 15/16in.)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Title
- Scott Catalogue USA R133ATC
- National Postal Museum
- Topic
- Clarence Henry Eagle Collection of Revenues, Proofs and Essays
- Record ID
- npm_0.203453_1_.18.24.1
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/hm89c29233a-4427-4299-9e97-888c261497a1
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