USA - A FEW OF MY FAVORITE REVENUE STAMPS - PRIVATE DIE PROPRIETARY STAMPS

April 15 is the annual deadline for American's to file their income tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service.  For many procrastinators, tomorrow will be a very stressfull day indeed! 

Luckily, I finished and submitted my tax forms electronically to the IRS last week, so all I have to do now is wait for my Tax Refund.  Thank you to my lovely wife for keeping the pressure on me to "GIT 'ER DONE!"

In honor of April 15, I thought it most appropriate to post my favorite revenue stamps from my collection.  And among US Revenue stamps, some of the most beautiful and whimsical were the Private Die Proprietary stamps.

These revenue stamps were issued to help alleviate the extraordinary financial demands of the American Civil War (1861-1865) on the US Federal Treasury.  The Revenue Act of 1862 required revenue stamps to be affixed to boxes or packages of matches, proprietary medicines, perfumes, playing cards, and even documents.  

Private Die Proprietary stamps came about when manufacturers were permitted, at their expense, to have dies engraved and plates made for their exclusive use.   Many were willing to do this because of the obvious advertising value.  These stamps were in use between 1862 to 1883. 

(Click on the stamps to enlarge them.)

PRIVATE DIE PERFUMERY STAMP

SCOTT RT4, "CORNING & TAPPAN" FOR PERFUME

PRIVATE DIE MEDICINE STAMP

SCOTT RS64 "CHARLES N. CRITTENTON" FOR PIKE'S TOOTHACHE DROPS AND GLENN'S SULPHUR SOAP

PRIVATE DIE MEDICINE STAMP

SCOTT RS65 "OLIVER CROOK & CO." FOR DR. CROOK'S WINE OF TAR

PRIVATE DIE MEDICINE STAMP

SCOTT RS187 "NEW YORK PHARMACAL ASSOCIATION" FOR LACTOPEPTINE

PRIVATE DIE MEDICINE STAMP

SCOTT RS249 "S.R. VAN DUZER" FOR HAIR RESTORER

There were many other attractive designs.  If you would like to see more, just let me know.

Happy Tax Day!

SPANISH PHILIPPINES - SCOTT #192 (1 MILESIMA) WITH U.S. MILITARY POSTAL STATION CDS, ILOILO

SPANISH PHILIPPINES - SCOTT #192 (1 MILESIMA)

WITH U.S. MILITARY POSTAL STATION CDS

"MIL. STA. No. 3, PHILIPPINE ISLS., ILOILO, REGISTERED."

Sometimes very common stamps can provide us with very scarce postmarks.  Here is a fine example of a portion of a U.S. Military Postal Station No. 3, Iloilo, Registry Postmark on a Spanish Philippines 1-milesima stamp (Scott #192) during the Philippine American War.  This Registry Postmark was used from June 23, 1899 to February 4, 1901.  Interestingly, this registration cancel is more often found in purple (as illustrated below), than in black.

(from http://www.philippinephilatelist.net/Collections/USPI/uspiPH/military/Iloilo%202.html)

According to Col. George Goodale's "U.S. Military Postal Stations in the Philippines (1898-1904)" a U.S. expedition was sent from Manila to Iloilo on December 28, 1898, but their landing at Iloilo was postponed until February 11, 1899. After driving out the Philippine "Insurgents", Iloilo was made the headquarters for the Department of the Visayas, U.S. Army, in March 1900.

SPANISH PHILIPPINES - SCOTT #192 (1 MILESIMA)

WITH U.S. MILITARY POSTAL STATION CDS

"...AM, 1899, RECEIVED."

Here is an interesting example of a portion of a U.S. Military Postal Station receiving postmark on a Spanish Philippines 1-milesima stamp (Scott #192) during the Philippine American War.

Based on the relative orientation of the "1899", "RECEIVED", and ... "INE" of PHILIPPINE, I believe this receiving postmark is also from Iloilio (see the example below).  This receiving postmark was used from June 23, 1899 to February 4, 1901.

(from http://www.philippinephilatelist.net/Collections/USPI/uspiPH/military/Iloilo%202.html)

But why would a U.S. cancel be found on a Spanish Philippine stamp? 

From my recent email correspondence with Don Peterson, a Philippine philatelic expert, he indicated that there were several circumstances that allowed Spanish Philippine stamps (mostly the 1898 issues) to have been cancelled with U.S. military postal station postmarks.

Bags of Un-Delivered Mail:  As U.S. forces took over the Spanish post offices, invariably there were bags of un-delivered Spanish mail present. This was certainly true at the Manila PO, where U.S. records show such bags present. Postmaster Vaille's first priority was U.S. mail. However, using Spanish clerks, he eventually got the Spanish mail cancelled, and arranged with the Spanish Governor-General to have Spanish and Filipino carriers deliver the mail to interior locations using the Spanish mail delivery system. This mail was cancelled with U.S. Military Station postmarks. Although some such mail was sent overseas, most overseas mail was eventually terminated by orders of the U.S. military (this latter statement is more complicated, because there were different rules for mail to Spain vs. mail to other foreign countries).

Short-Term Continued Use of Spanish Philippine (1898) Issues at U.S. Occupied P.O.s:  We also know that until U.S. postage stamps arrived at recently occupied towns, many such post offices were allowed to use Spanish Philippine stamps. This is believed to be very short-lived. 

Philatelic Usage: There was also philatelic usage as well, with the low-value Spanish Philippine stamps added as "decoration" onto outbound foreign mail.  An example of this can be seen at http://www.philippinephilatelist.net/Collections/USPI/uspiPH/rates/Postal%20Rates%204.html.

Even with the possibility of philatelic usage, Spanish period 1898 stamps with Mil. Sta. cancels are scarce. I am quite lucky to have found these.