R28c First Issue Playing Cards Stitch Watermark

$30.00

Stitch watermarks used to be listed in Scott Specialty Catalogs. They occur from the joining of the ends of the wire mesh belt used in the paper making process. Wood pulp that is being made into paper is placed on a wire mesh. While on the mesh, the water drains from the pulp leaving the pulp fibers behind. The pulp fibers bond and eventually they are transformed into paper. The ends of the wire mesh are stitched together to form a continuous belt. In some circumstances, the stitches leave a slight thin in the paper (just like a watermark). Hence the term “stitch watermark”.


Civil War era, First Issue
In August 1862, while the American Civil War was being waged, the United States government began taxing a variety of goods, services and legal dealings. To confirm that taxes were paid a ‘revenue stamp’ was purchased and appropriately affixed to the taxable item, which would in turn pay the tax duty involved. The new stamps were printed in several colors and depicted a portrait of George Washington on all thirty denominations from one-cent to $200. The new revenue stamps were used to pay tax on proprietary items such as playing cards, patent medicines and luxuries, and for various legal documents, stocks, transactions and various legal services. The cancellation of these stamps were usually done in pen and ink, while hand stamped cancellations were seldomly used and subsequently are more rare. When the Civil War ended it did not mean an end to revenue taxes as the federal government still had not paid the $2.7 billion debt it had acquired until 1883, at which time it finally repealed the excise tax.

Description

 

 

Additional information

Catalog Number

R28c

Condition

F used

Denomination

5c

Paper

thin paper, stitch watermark

Cancel

manuscript

Scott Catalog Value

$40.00