U.S. Revenue stamps - Proprietary, Match, Medicine and Private Die issues
Proprietary stamps
Early series
Scott RB1a,
1¢, plate number 1C
Scott RB1b,
1¢, used, plate number 1C
Scott RB1P4,
1¢ proof on card, green plate number 1B, black plate number 1B
Scott RB1P5,
1¢ proof on bond, plate number 1B
Scott RB2a,
2¢, black plate number A3
Scott RB2P4,
2¢ proof on card, black plate number A3, green plate number 3A
Scott RB3, 3¢, black plate number 13
Scott RB3P3, 3¢ proof on India paper, black plate number 18
Scott RB3P4, 3 ¢ proof on card, black plate number 18, green plate number 18
Scott RB4a, 4¢, green plate number 7B
Scott RB4P, 4¢ proof, green plate number 7A
Scott RB4P3, 4¢ proof on India paper, green plate number 7B
Scott RB4P4, 4¢ proof on card, black plate number A7, green plate numbers 7A, 7B
Scott RB5P4, 5¢ proof on card, black plate number 14, green plate number 14
Scott RB6a, 6¢, green plate number 12
Scott RB7P4,
10¢ proof on card, green plate number 4
Scott RB11a,
1¢, plate number 4
Scott RB11b,
1¢, plate number 4
Scott RB11c,
1¢, plate number 4
Scott RB12b,
2¢, plate number 6
Scott RB13b, 3¢, plate number 7
Scott RB14b,
4¢, plate number 12
Scott RB16a, 5¢, plate number 11
Scott RB16P3, 5¢ proof on India paper, plate number 11
Battleship series (1898)
Scott RB20,
1/8¢, plate number 8135
Scott RB20p,
1/8¢, plate number 11911
Scott RB20r,
1/8¢, rouletted, plate number 8265
Scott RB21,
1/4¢, plate number 7962
Scott RB21p,
1/4¢, plate number 11199
Scott RB21r,
1/4¢, plate number 7981
Scott RB22,
3/8¢, plate number 7979
Scott RB22p,
3/8¢, plate number 9414
The plate number is inverted -- the bottom of the plate number
should be toward the stamp image as on all other issues.
Scott RB23,
5/8¢, plate number 9357
Scott RB23p,
5/8¢, plate number 11448
Scott RB23,
5/8¢, plate number 8061
Scott RB24,
1¢ green, plate number 7928
Scott RB24p,
1¢ green, plate number 11594
Scott RB24r,
1¢, plate number 7928
Scott RB25,
1-1/4¢, plate number 8046
Scott RB25p,
1-1/4¢, plate number 11444
Scott RB25r,
1-1/4¢, plate number 8044
Scott RB26,
1-7/8¢, plate number 8375
Scott RB26p,
1-7/8¢, plate number 8365
Scott RB27, 2¢, plate number 7945
Scott RB27p,
2¢, plate number 9464
Scott RB27p var,
2¢, plate number 12078 with negative offset (Image courtesy of Eric Jackson)
Scott RB27r,
2¢, plate number 7956
Scott RB28,
2-1/2¢, plate number 8021
Scott RB28p,
2-1/2¢, plate number 9400
Scott RB28r,
2-1/2¢, plate number 8047
Scott RB28a,
2-1/2¢, imperforate horizontally error, plate number 8021 (Image courtesy of Robert Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc.)
Scott RB29,
3-3/4¢, plate mumber 8363
Scott RB29p,
3-3/4¢, hyphen-hole perf 7, plate number 8357
Scott RB29r,
3-3/4¢, plate number 8357
Scott RB30,
4¢, plate number 7944
Scott RB30p,
4¢, plate number 9441
Scott RB30r,
4¢, plate number 7949
Scott RB31,
5¢, plate number 8014
Scott RB31p,
5¢, plate number 9439
Brown Numerals (1911)
Scott RB32,
1/8¢, hand-entered plate number 267
Scott RB34,
3/8¢, hand-entered plate number 266 (without "PL")
Scott RB35,
5/8¢, plate number 388
Scott RB36,
1-1/4¢, pair with hand-entered plate number 269
Scott RB44,
1/8¢, hand-entered plate number 267
Scott RB45,
1/4¢, hand-entered straddle plate number 260
Scott RB48,
5/8¢, plate number 268
Scott RB50,
1-1/4¢, hand-entered straddle plate number 269
Scott RB51,
1-1/2¢, hand-entered straddle plate number 256
Scott RB54,
2-1/2¢, hand-entered straddle plate number 270
Blue Numerals
Scott RB65,
1¢, straddle plate number 3623
Scott RB66,
2¢, plate number 9783
Scott RB67,
3¢, plate number 4786
Scott RB68,
4¢, plate number 3720
Scott RB69,
5¢, plate number 4007
Scott RB71,
10¢, plate number 3926
Scott RB73,
40¢, pair with straddle plate number 3770
Semi-Private Proprietary stamps
The law requiring the use of the "battleship" proprietary stamps took
effect July 1, 1898. The stamps had not yet arrived at the
Binghamton, NY, revenue office, home of one of the largest mailers of
proprietary medicines, Dr. Kilmer & Co., by the deadline for their use.
The Kilmer company was unable to persuade local revenue agents to allow
them to ship their goods and pay the taxes by sworn statement and a lump
sum, and no other source for the required revenue stamps was available.
Faced with huge losses if their goods could not be shipped, or huge
penalties if they shipped the goods without the required tax stamps,
Kilmer improvised by overprinting the 1¢, 2¢ and 3¢ regular postage issues
of the day with one of two types of private overprints - in effect,
creating "semi-private" proprietary stamps. The overprints are on
the 1¢ green Franklin, Scott 279; 2¢ carmine Washington, Scott 267a; 2¢
red Washington, Scott 279Be; and 3¢ Jefferson, Scott 268.
Eight types of
stamps, Scott RS307 through RS315, are known canceled with dates ranging
from July 5 to July 15, 1898, after which presumably the required
Battleship stamps arrived in Binghamton and were used going forward.
Single examples of these overprinted proprietary stamps are rare enough in
themselves; plate number material has not been seen by this writer.
If you know of examples of plate number singles or blocks of these
overprinted issues, please submit them to our web site so we can
illustrate them for all collectors.
Private Die Match stamps
Scott RO130c, plate number 7 (Image courtesy of Eric Jackson)
Scott RO135d, plate number 52 (Image courtesy of Eric Jackson)
Scott RO176d, reversed plate number 238 (Image courtesy of Eric Jackson)
Private Die Medicine stamps
Scott RS1P3, proof on India paper, plate number 126
Scott RS14d, with lozenges watermark, plate number 79
Scott RS14P3, proof on India paper, plate number 79 (Image courtesy of Bill Langs)
Scott RS121P3, proof on India paper, plate number 115
Scott RS216P3, proof on India paper, plate number 107
Scott RS223b, unknown partial plate number at upper left, not listed in Durland (Image courtesy of Eric Jackson)
Emerson Drug Company, 2-1/2¢ Scott RS280d plate number 11203; 5/8¢ Scott RS281 plate number 11084;
1-1/4¢ Scott RS282 plate number 11038, and 1/4¢ RS283 plate number 11038 (Images courtesy of eBay / ckstamps)
Scott RS284r, rouletted, plate number 8807 (Image courtesy of eBay / harvard-mba)
Scott RS286p, hyphen-hole perf, plate number 8827
Scott RS286r, rouletted, plate number 8827
J. Ellwood Lee Co., complete private die medicine set from 1898-1900. 1/8¢ Scott RS290 plate number 11003;
5/8¢ Scott RS291 plate number 10977;
1-1/4¢ Scott RS292 plate number 10991; 2-1/2¢ Scott RS293 plate number 11000;
and 5¢ Scott RS294 plate number 11006 (Images courtesy of eBay / ckstamps)
Scott RS303p, hyphen-hole perf, plate number 8794 (Image courtesy of eBay / harvard-mba)
Scott RS303r, rouletted, plate number 8794 (Image courtesy of eBay / harvard-mba)
Scott RS305p, hyphen-hole perf, plate number 8839
Private Die Perfumery stamps
Scott RT2P3, 1¢ proof on India, plate number 100 (Image courtesy of Bill Langs)
Scott RT13TC3, 2¢ trial color proof on India, plate number 128 (Image courtesy of Bill Langs)
These stamps were originally printed by American Bank Note Company. When BEP took over the printing, they erased the ABNCo imprints but retained the original plate numbers even though they did not fit in the BEP plate numbering scheme.
Comments? Suggestions? Email the
Webmaster at .
This page last updated
November 9, 2024.
|