# MUS017 - 1878 Distillery Warehouse Stamps, 2 mint stamps

1878 Distillery Warehouse Stamps Can Be Yours

This is your chance to own two Distillery Warehouse stamps over 140 years old.  They were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with unique serial numbers.

The Civil War Tax Act of 1862 authorized a levy on businesses and occupations with gross receipts over $1,000 annually.  It stipulated that these taxes were required to be paid by Special Tax stamps.  These large stamps were printed from 1873 to 1885 in booklets of 10.  They were generally printed on a different color paper each year, though all years had the same vignette designs. 

There were 21 different types of businesses affected, but only 19 had stamps issued annually from 1873 to 1885. Most of these stamps were remainders that were cancelled with either pie-shaped cancels or hole cancels by the Internal Revenue Service and sold in 1890 as scrap paper.  The stamps had three parts:  the stub, which was retained when the stamp was issued, the coupons (each had 12, one for each month), and the stamp itself. Get these used remainder Distillery Warehouse stamps and enjoy their interesting history.