Two shillings and six pence revenue stamp

On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed "An Act for Granting and Applying Certain Stamp Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America," commonly known as "The Stamp Act of 1765." To relieve debt incurred during the Seven Year’s (or French and Indian) War, merchants who sold paper goods such as playing cards, and the printers of newspapers and pamphlets, had to pay for and affix stamps to their goods. This embossed blue paper version was the most expensive and used to ratify contracts, leases, bills of sale and property transfers written on vellum.

The royal imagery includes a crown over a garter centered on a Tudor rose, with the motto "Honi Soi Qui Mal y Pense" around the strap. "America" appears above and "II Shillings VI pence" below. A metal staple attaches the paper to a vellum backing, and an engraved paper cypher glued at the back prevents removal—composed of the initials GR, standing for Georgius Rex (George III). About forty of these embossed revenue stamps survive, a majority not attached to documents, which suggests that they may have come from a group of unused remainders.

Applying stamps to demonstrate payment of a tax was not a new idea and colonial authorities had themselves used it in the previous decade. What provoked the intense reaction to the Stamp Act of 1765 was the colonists’ lack of representation in Parliament, resentment at the growing British military presence, and a fear that additional fees would soon follow. Americans responded by boycotting stamped goods and with occasional acts of destruction. The tax proved difficult to enforce and Benjamin Franklin, then serving as Pennsylvania’s colonial agent in London, testified to Parliament and designed a small print (see 83.3.759) to lobby for repeal.