Kingston, NY
1862
$25.00
Black on thin, very delicate white paper, engraved by Toppan, Carpenter & Co. — the same firm that held the 1851-61 postage stamp contract.
This check has a very interesting story to tell because the stamp required to have been affixed to it to pay the tax hadn’t been delivered to the government at time the certificate was issued:
The Boston Revenue Book notes that the first delivery of 5¢ Certificate stamps occured on Dec. 3, 1862, but this certificate is dated Nov. 29. This means that the stamp could not have originated on this instrument at the time it was executed. Revenue stamp tax regulations of that time required “matching usage,” meaning that only a Certificate stamp could be used on a certificate of deposit. Thus, it would have been impossible to stamp this financial instrument in accordance with the law at the time it was issued.
The stamp bears two cancels, one clearly indicating Nov. 13, 1866, suggesting that the stamp was applied retroactively, perhaps when the certificate was redeemed. That the stamp’s cancels do not tie to the document suggest two possibilities: (1) that the stamp was canceled before it was affixed, or (2) that the stamp originated on another document and was fraudulently applied to this certificate. We may never know.
Small faults, otherwise XF condition in light of its age and the delicate nature of the paper.