page_title: Revenue stamps of the United States
section_title: First issue design types
hierarchical_section_title: Revenue stamps of the United States / History of revenue stamp usage / First issue design types
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Washington mortgage revenue 15c 1962 issue
context_page_description: The first revenue stamps in the United States were used briefly during colonial times, among the most notable usage involved the Stamp Act. Long after independence, the first revenue stamps printed by the United States government were issued in the midst of the American Civil War, prompted by the urgent need to raise revenue to pay for the great costs it incurred. After the war ended however, revenue stamps and the taxes they represented still continued. Revenue stamps served to pay tax duties on items that came under two main categories, Proprietary and Documentary. Proprietary stamps paid tax duties on goods like alcohol and tobacco, and were also used for various services, while Documentary stamps paid duties on legal documents, mortgage deeds, stocks and a fair number of other legal dealings. Proprietary and Documentary stamps often bore these respective designations, while in several of the issues they shared the same designs, sometimes with minor variations. Beginning in 1862 the first revenue stamps were issued, and would continue to be used for another hundred years and more.
context_section_description: The first series of revenue stamps have two distinctive design types with each stamp designating the tax 'duty'. Designs for denominations 1-cent through 20-cents were simple, bearing a portrait of George Washington, while stamps with denominations 25-cents through 1-dollar are larger and have a more elaborate design and also designate the tax duty in a lower banner. Stamps with denominations of $1.30 were used to pay the tax duty for foreign exchange only, $1.50 for Inland exchange only while the stamps with denominations of $1.60 and $1.90 were for Foreign exchange only and oddly bear no duty designations in the stamp design. Denominations of 2-dollars through 10-dollars have tax duties designated in the lower circular banner surrounding Washington's portrait. Denominations of 15-dollars through 50-dollars have tax duties designated in the right side of the circular banner surrounding the portrait. The design used for the 1-cent denomination is unique and is not used for any other denomination. 
  Tax duties include
  Agreement
  Bank check
  Bill of lading
  Bond
  Certificate
  Charter party
  Contract
  Conveyance
  Entry of goods
  Foreign exchange
  Inland exchange
  Lease
  Life insurance
  Manifest
  Mortgage
  Passage ticket
  Playing cards
  Power of attorney
  Probate of will
  Proprietary
  Surety bond
  Various tax duties were only served by certain revenue stamps as some duties were only found on lower or higher denomination revenue stamps as the case may be. For example, revenue stamps with a  designation for Playing cards occur only on denominations of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 cents, while the 25-cent denomination revenue stamp is the only one whose designation specifies Bond. A specialized stamp catalog is needed to see the different occurrences of tax-designation to denomination combinations.
caption: 'Mortgage', 15c 1862 issue
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