OK, you philatelists tell me the story about this stamp

[samintx]

I'm just getting around to a box of old US stamps from my mother's house.....there are several oblong ones that have "Internal Revenue" printed stamp and old script name or initials on the stamp but....I found one that said MORTGAGE on the stamp along with Internal revenue.

What would the IRS be doing in Mortgages and requiring stamps? I found an old long stamp that had been on cigarettes probably 1900s because it isn't like any I have seen in my long lifetime. I just found another that said "Inland Exchange" along with the IRS words...a long stamp ...both with Washington's face on them.

Many foreign stamps dating from 1908 and before. Most interesting Cuban stamps from 1900 and Philippines that says United states of America but is a Philippines stamp

[Paul F.]

Ah.. you have a "Documentary" stamp...

Those were stamps for paying a "document tax" to the IRS.

There's a whole class of stamp collecting for different tax-stamps.

I have quite a few from a collection bought at a garage sale for $5 (and eventually turned around and sold 3/4 of the collection on eBay, netting about $1500 total...).

MOST Documentary stamps are not very valuable by themselves... but I gathered that there are a few that have some interest.. like firearms tax stamps (still used today, in a different form...).

[tronnei]

The general term is "revenue stamp."

Dealer Eric Jackson has a comprehensive site:

http://www.ericjackson.com/


Re the Philippines: U.S. stamps were overprinted for use in the Philippines after the U.S. won the Spanish-American War in 1898. This continued for several years until the Philippines got their own stamps. U.S. stamps were also overprinted for use in Cuba and Puerto Rico (spelled "Porto Rico" on the overprints).

[samintx]

[quote tronnei]The general term is "revenue stamp."

Dealer Eric Jackson has a comprehensive site:

http://www.ericjackson.com/


Re the Philippines: U.S. stamps were overprinted for use in the Philippines after the U.S. won the Spanish-American War in 1898. This continued for several years until the Philippines got their own stamps. U.S. stamps were also overprinted for use in Cuba and Puerto Rico (spelled "Porto Rico" on the overprints).
These stamps didn't have "over stamps" on them. I know what that is. They were printed just like a regular postage stamp.

Thanks for the help. Some of the 1900 US stamps are unused but with no stickum on the back. I'm going to sort and put together to see what I have. Get a Scotts stamp catalog......but that is for another rainy day.

I have seen documentary stamps, hunting and fishing stamps etc. but there were differ and older...also the IRS indication thru me.

[tronnei]

You're welcome.

If you get a Scott's Specialized Catalog of the United States, it will cover the revenue stamps as well as the pre-independence Philippine issues (most of which are pretty cheap). Many basic revenue stamps are still cheap too, even though they date back as far as the Civil War. Still very fun to collect.

[Lux Interior]

What did you call me?