RN-B10 American Exchange National Bank check, unused 1865

Revenue stamped paper bears the same relationship to revenue stamps as postal cards do to postage stamps. The American Phototype Company of New York was awarded the first contract for printing stamped paper. It is now believed that they did not make a delivery until June of 1865. From 1865 to the autumn of 1875 American Phototype was the principal supplier of imprinted paper, producing six different two-cent designs. The Scott Specialized Catalog of US Stamps and Covers lists them as RN-A through RN-F. The color in which the imprints were to be printed was not specified in the law, so American Phototype first used a range of colors. By 1872 they had limited their palette to red, orange and a variety of browns, and by 1875, only orange. The earliest checks with imprinted revenues featured Type B in red. That imprint is listed as B10.