Identifying U.S. Documentary Revenue Stamps of 1899-1903
I was recently sorting out my early Philippine documentary revenue stamps from the U.S. administration – more specifically those from 1899-1903. I had accumulated stamps from this period but they were uncategorized and unloved; lumped together and awaiting attention. At first glance they look very similar but with the pointers below you will be able to distinguish them easily and store them against the right year.
These are the key design elements to look for when determining the year of your stamps:
Starting from the red box left and moving down, here’s what to look for:
- The number of rays from the sun that touch the top of the design can differ across years. Each ray is represented as 4 individual lines. Start counting from the lower right of the arch until you have counted all. The example above has 10 rays touching.
- The stamps may or may not have a year printed. If it is printed it will be in the indicated area within the shield. The year can be difficult to read, especially if there are cancellations on the stamp.
- The suns rays may touch the bottom corners of the surrounding box – in the example above they do not meet exactly in the corners (they are higher).
- Most years will have the word “SELLO” printed (as in the example above). Stamps from 1903 are easily identified as they have the word “CLASS” instead of “SELLO”.
Other attributes are listed in the table below:
| Design Element | 1899 | 1900 | 1901-1902 | 1903 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perforated 12 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Imperforated | Yes | – | – | – |
| Rays meet lower Corners | Yes | No | No | No |
| # of Rays Touching Top | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 |
| Year Printed in Shield | 1899 | 1900 | none | none |
| Pixelated Print Quality | – | – | – | Yes |
| “Sello” or “Class” | Sello | Sello | Sello | Class |
| Example |  |  |  |  |
I hope this post has helped you to identify the relevant years of your early (1899-1903) U.S. era Documentary Revenue Stamps of the Philippines.
Please also take a look at these links if you are looking for more information on these particular U.S. era revenue stamps or for a brief history of Philippine revenues.