R29d First Issue Proprietary, silk paper

There are, for this issue, four distinct and easily recognizable papers, viz., thin, medium, thick and silk. The first is hard, brittle, sometimes almost transparent, and generally of a yellowish or grayish appearance. The second is of various degrees of thickness, always very soft and white, and often quite porous. In this work it will be understood to embrace all varieties not included under either of the other headings. The third, or thick variety, is often very white, hard, and rather brittle. In fact it is so thick as to be almost a thin bristol-board. The fourth is self-explanatory, it being merely a rather soft, thick paper, closely resembling the second, or medium variety, as described above, into the composition of which a few scattering silk fibres have been introduced. These fibres are very easily overlooked, as, as a general rule, they are very minute and widely scattered, so that often a stamp will show but a single fibre.

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as the federal government still had not paid the $2.7 billion debt it had acquired until 1883, at which time it finally repealed the excise tax.