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There are plenty of examples of large revenue stamps, but what is the smallest one?



Using the good old Penny Black as a useful comparative measure for surface area (of its design) which I measure at 19x22.5mm or 427.5sq mm (thus giving a "PB" unit).

Here are the three smallest I have, all record copyright tax stamps.

The little circular die-cut one is Australian, from J. Albert & Son, dating from 1957-62, affixed to some UK specialist 78s imported into Australia, notably Mood Music. It has a design diameter of 8mm, so an area of 50.25sq mm or .1175PB

The purple and green item dates from 1925-28, and is for AMMRE, from Germany. It was a smaller version of the usual stamp, meant for affixing to the smaller labels of little 78s - many under 8" rather than the usual 10" or 12". The design measures 11x8.5mm, or .219PB

The AMMRE LIZENZ CLAUSOPHON is from the 1920s, especially for the small records of the Clausophon label, and the text area measures 8.5x7.5mm, or .149PB.

Anyone got other really small revenue stamps?
Should we measure to the perfs, and if so how - to the bottom of the perf holes?

Adam

Revenues for records (of the vinyl/shellac variety, not the archive variety) are probably going to be the smallest given what they were applied to.

They were put on the record itself, not the sleeve, and obviously the only place to put the stamp then would be the central label, and a stamp too big would cover up some of the information.

Revenues for documents come in 'normal' to 'rug' size since a document provided lots of 'white space'. The wine and cigar revenues are great, done in those long strips. Narrow yes, but in terms of overall surface area they're huge.

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Hard to imagine ANYTHING smaller than those!

I don't have any but I've seen some pretty small US state & city cigarette tax stamps, especially those done as transfers.



Like this one taken from DK Enterprises site.

Looks like the size of a shirt button!

Some more tiny revenues - this time two proofs of the New York Cigaratte Tax stamps. Measure 9x12mm or 0.25PB.

Another really small copyright tax stamp, this one from the Genossenschaft Deutscher Tonsetzer ("German Composers’ Co-operative"), dating from about 1930.

Measures 10x7.5mm, or about 17% of the area of the Penny Black.

Like buying a diamond, so much for so little.

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

This stamp paid a tax on 24 cigarettes, which was an odd size, so it might be scarce enough to command such a high price; a stamp for the common size of 20 cigarettes would be worth perhaps 10% or less of this price. There is a catalog that would list it, but I do not have it.