Philatelic Shangri-la: New York Stamp Taxes on Bonds, 1910–1920. Discovery of a Spectacular Philatelic Field Hidden for a Century

1894 bond with Great Britain embossed transfer tax stamp struck in 1894 
and New York Mortgage Endorsement orange stamp affixed January 1917 

Purpose. This exhibit explains and illustrates New York’s Mortgage Endorsement, Secured Debt, and Tax on Investments stamp taxes of 1910–20, which applied only to bonds, via intact stamped bonds. 

Here is the story, in exhibit form, of one of the great philatelic discoveries of our generation, important not just within the area of U.S. state revenues, but "Important for Philately" as a whole, for it expands its very borders, bringing under the philatelic umbrella an entire subfield hidden for a century — a discovery triply extraordinary in that it comprises what are arguably the most beautiful objects ever to bear stamps, and complex, unprecedented rules for stamp use.

The rules governing use of the stamps, not apparent by observation or even from the vague defining statutes, were unaddressed in the philatelic press for a century until ferreted out by the exhibitor, revealed only in contemporaneous New York Times "Rosetta Stone" articles. The discovery process is interwoven here, captioned in gray:  [                    ].

Optional Taxes! Payment of these taxes was optional, as unlikely as that seems on its face. They were paid in lieu of state property tax. 

The property tax was considered confiscatory—bonds yielded about 4% per year, while the tax was roughly 2%—and it was widely evaded. 

In order to salvage more tax revenue from bonds, the state devised a series of much lower optional taxes whose payment made bonds exempt from property tax. These were the Mortgage, Secured Debt, and Investments taxes, with their eponymous stamps. Representative examples are shown below and on the facing page. This unprecedented style of taxation was later adopted by other states.

Click here for the ten-ftrame exhibit