1878 $1 Beer Stamp, Red, Light Blue Paper, Plate & Position Number

Scott #REA42d is a $1 red Internal Revenue beer tax stamp from the Series of 1878, representing the tax on one full barrel of beer, printed on light blue paper. The striking two-color design features a red typographed frame with "Beer Stamp" across the top and "Internal Revenue" along the bottom, surrounding a finely engraved black central vignette produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The portrait is identified as "Johnson" — Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States.

The $1 denomination was the most commonly used beer tax stamp, as it covered a standard full barrel of approximately 31.5 gallons — the most common unit of sale from American breweries of the period. The 1878 series was produced on several different paper colors, and the light blue paper of this example is one of the more visually striking varieties. The red frame against the blue paper creates a bold, almost patriotic effect quite different from the more subdued green stamps of the same series.

Andrew Johnson, whose portrait appears here, served as the 17th President from 1865 to 1869, succeeding Abraham Lincoln after Lincoln's assassination. His presidency was one of the most turbulent in American history, marked by bitter battles with Congress over Reconstruction policy and his eventual impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1868 — though he was acquitted by the Senate by a single vote. By the time this stamp was issued in 1878, Johnson had just completed a brief return to the U.S. Senate, the only former president ever to do so, before his death in July 1875.