A look at Revenue Stamps

I was at a stamp fair in Liverpool a few weeks ago. I was looking for something a bit different and I came across these old stamps. I hadn't seen anything like them before and I thought it would be good to buy them and do some research on them later. The first question is: what is a revenue stamp?

They are stamps that were not used for postage. Instead, they were issued by "a government to certify that a tax, fee, or duty has been paid on goods or documents". So basically these were stamps that you would often find on official documents to confirm that the duty had been paid, sometimes on things like tobacco or alcohol. As you will see, the revenue stamps would often have a much higher value than ordinary postage stamps.

There are also different types of revenue stamps and some of these are shown here. Three say "Foreign Bill", one is "Insurance", One is for "Consular Service" and one is for "Internal Revenue". These are all a bit different so we will have a look at them.

"Foreign Bill" - A Foreign Bill stamp was used for international trade. When a business in one country promised to pay money to someone in another country, they wrote a special payment document called a "foreign bill of exchange". The government required a revenue stamp on the document to show the tax had been paid. So, if a businessman in London bought goods from France and promised to pay later, the payment document would have had a Foreign Bill revenue stamp. There are some fantastic examples of Foreign Bill stamps here. "Insurance" - this is an easier one. Insurance revenue stamps showed that tax had been paid on an insurance policy. So if someone bought insurance (for a house or a ship, or maybe life insurance), the government charged a small tax. The stamp on the insurance paperwork proved the tax was paid.

"Internal Revenue" - these stamps were used to show that tax inside the country had been paid. These would be used on everyday things like legal documents, receipts, contracts or items like alcohol or tobacco. Basically, these proved you had paid your tax bill!

"Consular Service" - these were not as common. Consular Service stamps were used to pay fees at embassies or consulates, maybe if someone needed a visa or help with passports. The stamp showed the fee had been paid.

Revenue stamps can be very collectable. Not all philatelists are interested in them because they are clearly not postage stamps, but I think these are very interesting. They tell us a lot about how governments collected taxes. There are also many different types and they will often appear on interesting historical documents. They're an important part of history.

I also think the designs are very detailed and they had to be to prevent forgery. A lot of revenue stamps had very complex patterns.

What have I learned about these particular stamps? They all have their own history and a particular purpose.

1. This is a Foreign Bill stamp for the HongKong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. It shows King George V so it was issued sometime between 1910 and 1936. There is a date stamp but unfortunately it doesn't tell us the year.

2. This is an Insurance stamp from the state of Karnataka in India. I have checked to see where Karnataka is, and discovered it is a large state in the South West of India. There is a handstamp and although we can't see the date it does tell us that it was used in the city of Mysore. The stamp was worth one rupee.

3. This is a Consular Service stamp from the time King George V. I have discovered that the common denominations for these stamps were 3d, 6d, 1/- (one shilling), 2/- (two shillings), 2/6p (two shillings and sixpence), 5/- (five shillings), 10/- (ten shillings), £2 and £50. I have seen some $50 ones but they were very expensive for me to buy!

4. This is an older Foreign Bill stamp from the time of Queen Victoria. I have done some research and found out this is number 109 from 1881.

5. This is from Western Australia, also from 1881. It is lilac and there is a beautiful picture of a swan. These can be quite rare and I saw one (in mint condition) selling for $175! This stamp was used for internal revenue. This is my favourite out of the six stamps I bought.

6. The last stamp in my little collection is huge! It is a Queen Victoria 4 shillings Foreign Bill stamp from 1855 (number 40).

I have found these very interesting and it has been fun to research them. I am thinking of buying some more and maybe collect specific types.