Two shillings and six pence revenue stamp
In 1765 Britain passed the Stamp Act, hoping to recoup financial losses from years of war with the French. The law forced American colonists to pay a tax on paper goods—from newspapers to playing cards—that displayed printed stamps. This embossed variation, a type attached to vellum documents, features a Tudor rose surmounted by a British crown. Colonists responded to the tax by boycotting British goods, and Parliament repealed the act in 1766.
Artwork Details
- Title: Two shillings and six pence revenue stamp
- Engraver: Anonymous, British, 18th century
- Date: 1765–66
- Medium: Embossed stamp on blue-gray paper with metal staple on vellum (recto); engraved cypher (verso)
- Dimensions: Blue paper sheet: 1 5/8 × 1 5/8 in. (4.2 × 4.2 cm)
Vellum sheet: 2 × 1 13/16 in. (5.1 × 4.6 cm)
Cypher on verso: 7/8 × 13/16 in. (2.2 × 2 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924
- Object Number: 24.90.1365
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Engraved by Anonymous, British, 18th century
second half 18th century
Anonymous, British, 18th century
July 14, 1789
Anonymous, British, 18th century
before 1776
Anonymous, British, 18th century
March 18, 1766
Anonymous, British, 18th century
second half 18th century
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