Imported from: Google Blogger site
Original publish date: June 19, 2009
Links updated: January 21, 2024

New York state revenues on bonds

Michael Mahler, one of my contributors, just finished a HUGE 4-part article on revenue stamps applied to bonds held by New York residents. You may find his article at the American Revenue Association website. 

Mike tells me he has seen New York revenues on bonds dated as early as 1847 and as late as the 1920s. The revenue stamps he talks about in his article are most common on bonds of the 1890s to 1900s.

His article is titled, New York Mortgage Endorsement, Secured Debt, and Investment Stamp Taxes, 1911-1920. I will bet that most collectors own one or more railroad bonds with the stamps that Mike is interested in.

That is NOT to say that they are common. Quite the contrary. Some are quite hard to find. Collectors of stocks and bonds generally do not pay premiums for revenue stamps, but philatelists do. Mike points out that, "Some seen as common by scripophilists become rarities to philatelists!"

When you get to the research page of the American Revenue Association, you will find a previous article by Michael Mahler that you might also be interested in: Robert Schuyler's 1853-4 Stock Fraud on the New York and New Haven Railroad: the paper trail.