R160 1898 U.S. Revenue Stamp

You cannot add another "R5b 2 cent Bank Check first issue revenue red cancel" to your cart. View cart

$70.00

In 1898, a series of revenue stamps featured the battleship Maine, tragically sunk in the Havana harbor just a few months before, a mysterious event soon followed by the Spanish-American War. War with Spain brought with it a need to pay for the expense of military action — a need for new revenue, and new revenue stamps.

To fulfill the immediate need, U.S. postage stamps were overprinted with the initials “I.R.” for Internal Revenue (Scott R153-R158B). Newspaper stamps were similarly overprinted for use as provisional revenues (R159-R160).