Insurance companies and their agents used millions of 1898 documentary revenue stamps, in particular, the 1/2 cent, 4, 40 and 80 cent stamps, though their cancels may be found on every value in the documentary series. This page, and its sister page Insurance Agents, include a list of cancels posted on this website. You are invited to browse the links below and view the scans of canceled stamps by dozens of different insurance companies.
The US 1898 War Revenue Law, in summary, taxed insurace policies as follows:
Life Insurance:
Policy of insurance...upon life or lives, for each one hundred dollars or fractional part thereof, eight cents on the amount insured: Provided, That on all policies, for life insurance only, issued on the industrial or weekly payment plan of insurance, the tax shall be forty per centum of the amount of the first weekly premium. Fraternal and cooperative societies providing insurance-type programs were exempt from these taxes.
Marine, Inland & Fire Insurance:
Each policy ... upon property of any description ... whether against peril by sea or inland waters, or by fire or lightning, upon the amount of premium charged [shall be taxed] one-half of one percent on each dollar or fractional part thereof.
Casualty, Fidelity & Guarantee Insurance: Each policy of insurance ... of the nature of indemnity for loss, damage or bond or obligation...transacting the business of accident, fidelity, employer's liability, plate glass, steam boiler, burglary, elevator, automatic sprinkler ... and each bond undertaking or recognizance, conditioned for the performance of any office...or guaranteeing titles to real estate or mercantile credits...[taxed] one half of one cent on each dollar or fractional part thereof.
The following list of links includes many major insurance companies, both US-based and foreign. Many of these companies would sell policies directly to clients, as well as through independent agents, so they often canceled revenue stamps with their business name or initials.
Aetna Fire Insurance Company
AETNA FIRE INS. CO
JAN
21
1899
From The Insurance Journal, December 22, 1898:
Aetna Life Insurance Company
Aetna Life Ins Co
Mar 23 1900
American Surety Company
Advert, The Insurance Times January 1899
AMERICAN SURETY CO OF NEW YORK
OCT
6
1899
AMERICAN SURETY CO OF NEW YORK.
JUL
15
1898
AMERICAN SURETY CO OF NEW YORK.
APR
16
1901
Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company
Advert, from Miller's New Guide to the Hudson River, 1879
ATLANTIC MUTUAL
JUL 29 1901
INSURANCE
Armenia Insurance Company
from The Standard Insurance Directory of New England, 1899
ARMENIA INS. CO.,
JUN
14
1901
Pittsburg, Pa.
Berkshire Life Insurance Company
from The Insurance Monitor, 1904
BERKSHIRE LIFE INS. CO.
DEC
11
1899
Boston Insurance Company
Advert, The Boston Globe, January 24, 1910
BOSTON INSURANCE CO.
DEC
?
BOSTON INSURANCE COMPANY
MAR
28
1899
BOSTON INSURANCE COMPANY
DEC
17
1899
Caledonian Insurance Company of Scotland
CALEDONIAN
MAR
6
1899
INS. CO.
Advertisement, The Insurance Journal 1898:
Chicago Insurance Company
Outside jacket of insurance policy document date 18 October, 1898, valid for three years, with scarce, but damaged 1/2 cent orange documentary battleship stamp. Unfold this pamphlet and you get the full policy document that you see below.
Policy written for $3750 of coverage for Henry Garner, Esquire, for his farm in West Virginia, including for $50 on the meat inside Mr. Garner's smoke house.
l
Concordia Fire Insurance Company
from The Western Undewriter May 7, 1908
CONCORDIA FIRE INS. CO.
APR
15
1901
MILWAUKEE, WISC.
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company
C. M. L. I. CO.
JAN
22
1901
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898:
C. M. L. I. CO.
SEP
25
1900
HARTFORD, CONN.
Continental Assurance Company of North America
Advert: The American Tyler, July 1, 1899
CONTINENTAL ASSURANCE CO.
OCT 13 1899
NORTH AMERICA
Continental Insurance Company of New York
CONTINENTAL INS. CO.
FEB 5- 1901
OF NEW YORK
CONT'L INS. CO.
JUN
11
1900
County Fire Insurance Company
County Fire Insurance "Firemark". Likely brass, the plate was attached to buildings insured by County Fire Insurance to indicate which houses their fire brigade should attend to. This plate was likely used somewhere in the UK, the home country of County Fire Insurance.
THE COUNTY
NOV 4 1898
FIRE INS. CO.
Des Moines Insurance Company
Des Moines
SEP
15
1898
Ins. Co.
Empire City Fire Insurance Company
Advert from The Evening Post, July 12, 1867
EMPIRE CITY FIRE INS. CO.
APR 20 1899
The Equitable Life Assurance Society
The Equitable was a very big company in 1898.
$50 million in income in 1898?
L. S A M U E L .
GENERAL MANAGER,
Equitable Life Assurance Society,
OREGONIAN BUILDING
Portland, Oregon
manuscript date:
June 30, 1899
David Thompson scans and highlight
Mr. Henry Hyde
New York-based President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1898, his last year as President
From the website Funding Universe:
Equitable was started in Manhattan in 1859 when Henry Baldwin Hyde, an ambitious young cashier for the giant Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, left that firm to found his own. Life insurance ran in Hyde's family; his father was one of Mutual's top salesmen and would sell many policies for Equitable. Hyde organized his new firm as a joint-stock company, enlisting his friends to help sell shares. William Alexander, a lawyer and minor politician whom Hyde knew through their mutual association with the First Presbyterian Church of New York, was chosen as the firm's first president, with Hyde running its day-to-day affairs through the office of vice-president.
Equitable got off to a good start, selling 769 policies worth a total of more than $2.6 million in its first year. Business boomed during the Civil War, as the ravages of armed conflict impressed upon many the wisdom of insuring their lives. In 1865, the last year of the war, the firm had $27.6 million worth of coverage in force. Equitable had begun selling policies overseas almost immediately after its founding. It had an agent in Southeast Asia as early as 1860, and over the next two decades it established its presence elsewhere in the Far East, in Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Canada.
William Alexander died in 1874 and was succeeded by Henry Baldwin Hyde. Business continued to skyrocket during Hyde's active stewardship, and in 1886 Equitable surpassed Mutual to become the largest life insurance company in the world. That year, it sold $111.5 million worth of policies, giving it a total of $411.8 million of coverage in force. During those boom year, the firm could boast of having among its directors Ulysses S. Grant and financier John Jacob Astor.
Henry Hyde retired in 1898 and died the next year.
Fidelity & Casualy Company
Advert, June 16, 1898, The Insurance Journal
FIDELITY & CASUALTY CO.
MAR
30
1900
Fire Association of Philadelphia
1898 advertisement
FIRE ASS'N,
MAR 23 1899
PHILADELPHIA
Firemans Fund Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, 1898
CANCELLED
JUL 23 ??
FIREMANS FUND INS. CO.
CANCELLED
APR 11 1901
FIREMANS FUND INS. CO.
Firemen's Insurance Company
FIREMEN'S INS. CO.
APR
1900
Firemen's Insurance Co. "Firemark"
A firemark was a cast iron medallion attached to a building to indicate insurance coverage against fire, in this example, by the Firemen's Insurance Company.
This company should not be confused with Firemans Fund.
Franklin Fire Insurance Company
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE CO.
APR
30
1901
Advert, The Chronicle, January 7, 1897:
German Insurance Company of Freeport, IL
GER. INS. CO.
OCT 8 1898
FREEPORT, ILL.
Advert, The Chronicle, January 7, 1897:
German-American Insurance Company
GERMAN AMERICAN INS. CO.
JAN
24
1900
Advert from December 22, 1898:
Germania Fire Insurance Company
Advert from December 22, 1898
GERMANIA FIRE INS CO
JUN
??
1901
NEW YORK
Granite State Fire Insurance Company
GRANITE STATE FIRE INS. CO.
DEC
30
1899
The Greenwich Insurance Company
THE GREENWICH
SEP 26 1898
INSURANCE CO.
The Greenwich
JUN
28
1900
Ins. Co.
THE GREENWICH INSURANCE CO.
MAY
11
1901
N. Y.
Postcard return address
Hamburg-Bremen Fire Insurance Company
HAMBURG-BREMEN
MAY
8
1899
FIRE INS. CO.
HAMB-BREM. F. INS. CO.
APR
8
1899
BOSTON.
Hamburg-Bremen paperweight:
Hanover Fire Insurance Company
JUN
8
1899
NEW YORK
From the Worcester, Mass. Telegram & Gazette, March 6, 2013:
The Hanover Insurance Group began as the Hanover Fire Insurance Co., in Hanover Square, New York City. It met many challenges in its early history, including The Great Chicago and Boston fires of the late 1800s. Though these disasters put nearly 70 other insurers out of business, Hanover survived, paying out all of its claims and helping the two cities rebuild. Later, in 1915, Hanover wrote the first auto policy in the State of Michigan, not long after cars began rolling out of Detroit’s factories. Along the way, it’s provided auto insurance to icons, including Babe Ruth.
In 1969, the company moved to Worcester. Today, Hanover does business across United States and abroad. It employs about 5,100 people, 1,825 of which work at its headquarters on Lincoln Street.
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898
HANOVER FIRE INS. CO.
NOV
31
1900
N.Y.
Hartford Fire Insurance Company, Hartford (Chicago)
Hartford Fire Ins. Co.
Oct 16 1900
CHICAGO.
Oval Date Stamp from 1900 for the Hartford Fire Insurance office in Chicago, just a few years after the Chicago fire destroyed many US insurance companies and before the San Francisco earthquake caused similar tremors in the US insurance industry.
A Hartford post-SF earthquake advert touting their corporate strength in the face of earthquake-related claims.
-------
The Hartford was founded in 1810 and is one of the oldest continually operated insurance companies in the United States.
Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, October 13, 1898
HARTFORD
STEAM
NOV 6 1899
BOILER
INSURANCE CO.
Hawkeye Insurance Company
from The Insurance Field, October 15, 1908
Hawkeye
Fire Ins. Co.
DEC 22 1899
Holyoke Mutual Fire Insurance Company
HOLYOKE MUT. F. INS. CO.
APR
27
1901
SALEM.
Calendar page:
Home Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 7, 1897
HOME INS. CO.
JUL
31
1900
N. Y.
HOME INS. CO.
APR 1 1899
Imperial Insurance Company of London
from The Insurance Journal, 1887.
The Imperial Ins.
FEB
18
1899
Co. Ld. of London
The Imperial Ins.
AUG
17
1899
Co. Ld. of London
The Imperial Ins.
AUG
24
1899
Co. Ld. of London
firemark of the Imperial Insurance Company:
Fire insurance marks are metal plaques marked with the emblem of the insurance company which were affixed to the front of insured buildings as a guide to the insurance company's fire brigade. These identification marks were used in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in the days before municipal fire services were formed.
Thanks to Dave Thompson for the scan of R155.
Insurance Company of North America
INS. CO. OF N. A.
MAY 8 1899
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898:
Advert, The Insurance Monitor, 1904:
Jefferson Mutual Insurance Company
Jeff. Mut. Ins. Co.
Aug
19
1899
Jefferson Mutual Insurance firemark:
Fire insurance marks are metal plaques marked with the emblem of the insurance company which were affixed to the front of insured buildings as a guide to the insurance company's fire brigade. These identification marks were used in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in the days before municipal fire services were formed.
Lancashire Insurance Company
December 22, 1898 advertisement
THE LANCASHIRE
MAY 16 18??
INSURANCE CO.
THE LANCASHIRE
MAR 16 1900
INSURANCE CO.
THE LANCASHIRE
MAY ?? 189?
INSURANCE CO.
Liverpool &London & Globe Insurance Company
L. & L. & G.
AUG
18
1898
INS. CO.
Lloyds Plate Glass Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 7, 1897
LLOYDS PLATE
JUN 27 1900
GLASS INS. CO.
LLOYDS P. G. INS. CO.
JAN
4
????
London Guarantee & Accident Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 21, 1897
London & Lancashire Fire Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 7, 1897
L.&L.F.Ins.Co.
MAR 22 1899
Magdeburg Fire Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Times, March 1899
MAGDEBURG
MAY 17 1900
FIRE INS. CO.
Maryland Casualty Company
Calendar header
MARYLAND CAS. CO
MAY
2
1900
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
from The Insurance Journal, January 27, 1898
MASS. MUT. LIFE INS. CO
June
3
1901
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898
Metropolitan Life
Ins Company
Nov 20 99
Metropolitan Plate Glass Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898
MET. P. G. INS. CO.
MAY
4
1899
NEW YORK.
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company
M.B.L.INS.CO.
H. Y. SILSBY??
Apr 19
1900
M. B. L. I. CO.
JAN 9 1900
M. B. L. I. CO.
JUL 11 1899
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898:
National Accident Society
NAT'L ACCIDENT SOC'Y,
APR
18
1900
New York.
Racist advertising courtesy of the racist management of
The National Accident Society:
National Fire Insurance Company
The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898
NATIONAL
APR 17 1899
FIRE. INS. CO.
National Surety Company of New York
from The Architect & Engineer of California and the Pacific Coast, 1917
NATIONAL SURETY CO.
JUL
3
1899
N. Y.
NATIONAL SURETY CO.
SEP 27 1900
NEW YORK.
NAT'L SURETY CO.
JUN 14 1899
New York.
National Union Insurance Company
NAT. UNION
JUL 11 1900
INSURANCE CO.
New England Mutual Life Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898:
CHAS. D. MILL, Gen. Agt.
JAN
?
1901
N. E. M. L. I. Co.
CHAS. D. MILL, Gen. Agt.
JAN
1
1899
N. E. M. L. I. Co.
New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company
NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE INS. CO.
MAR
30
1900
New York Plate Glass Insurance Company
THE N. Y. PLATE GLASS INS. CO.
MAR
11
1899
THE N.Y. PLATE GLASS INS. CO.
FEB
3
1899
New York Plate Glass Ins Co policy document with R154 bisect sold in the Siegel Henry Tolman sale part 1 in 2007. I do not own this document.
New York Times, October 14, 1900:
Niagara Fire Insurance Company
from The Chronicle, January 21, 1897
NIAGARA FIRE
SEP
17
1899
North American Insurance Company
NORTH AMERICAN INSURANCE CO.
JUN
21
1900
NORTH AMERICAN INSURANCE CO.
FEB
6
1899
NORTH AMERICAN INSURANCE CO.
FEB
12
1900
Northern Assurance Company
from The Weekly Underwriter, April 28, 1906
Cancel:
NORTHERN ASSURANCE CO.
JUL
19
1898
stamp:
R163 bisect on document fragment
An interesting item is currently available on Ebay of what is certainly a business and non-philatelic use of a 1c battleship bisect. The stamp is perfectly tied to an insurance document fragment consistent with use by the Northern Assurance Co of London.
British advert for Northern Assurance Co:
Northern Assurance firemark:
Northern Life Association
from The St. Paul Globe, March 2, 1897
Northern Life Assn
DEC 20 1898
Marshalltown, Iowa
Northwestern Life Association
Advert in the Henderson Times (Texas)
NORTHWESTERN
NOV 26 1898
LIFE ASS'N.
NORTHWESTERN
AUG 5 1898
LIFE ASS'N.
NORTHWESTERN
APR 16 1901
LIFE ASS'N.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, December 19, 1897
Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society
Another David Thompson find. Norwich Union continues to exist, though now branded as Aviva.
N. U. F. I. S.
APR 17 1901
NEW YORK.
Palatine Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 21, 1897
THE PALATINE INS. CO. Ld.
NOV
18
1898
PALATINE
OCT 7 1898
INS. CO.
Palatine Firemark:
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1897
Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1897
PENNA.
APR 7 1899
F. I. CO.
Phenix Insurance Company
Advertisement from the Insurance Journal of January 20, 1898
Phoenix Assurance Company of London
Advert, The Weekly Underwriter, February 26, 1898
Not to be confused with Phoenix of Hartford or Phenix of Brooklyn
PHOENIX ASSURANCE COMPANY
MAY
15
1900
OF LONDON
PHOENIX ASSURANCE COMPANY
MAY
18
1901
OF LONDON.
Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford
Advertisement from the Insurance Journal of January 20, 1898
Preferred Accident Insurance Company
from The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898
PREFERRED ACC'T INS. CO.
JULY
14
1898
Provident Life & Trust Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 7, 1897
THE PROVIDENT LIFE & TRUST COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA.
2 Mo
7
1899
Interesting big cancel, with a long name spelled out in a CDS.
Top it off with "11 Mo" for November, a Quaker dating method in which the names of the months are not used. Provident Life and Trust was a Quaker owned and operated company.
Provident Savings Life Assurance Society
Advert, The Insurance Journal, October 20, 1898
The Provident Savings Life Assurance Society (PSLAS) produced the most significant array of printed precancels of any company, including railroads. Because they were in a very different business than the railroads and express companies, they were subject to different taxes, and made regular use of different stamp values. PSLAS primarily sold life insurance, which was taxed at eight cents per $100 insured. In addition, forty percent was to be paid on the first weekly premium for any life insurance policy. A result of these taxes was that insurance companies made frequent use of the 40 and 80 cent documentary stamps in addition to the dollar documentaries to cover the taxes on larger life policies.
PSLAS printed precancels have been identified on six different stamps, including the 40 cent and 80 cent documentaries, and the Scott R173, R174, R175 and R182 dollar values. The cancels consist of a solid outer circle, 20mm in diameter, a thinner inner circle, and PROVIDENT SAVINGS LIFE inscribed in an arc inside the inner circle. The cancels come in either black or red depending on the stamp denomination except for the forty cent stamp, which is known with both black and red cancels. Shades of orange red may also be found on the 40 cent stamps.
Of the stamps I have seen that have dates, all appear to have been canceled sometime in 1900. By 1900, R173 and R174 were issued with hyphen-hole perforations, and the PSLAS printed cancels are only known with HH perfs on those stamps. Though the 40 and 80 cent stamps were also issued with HH perforations, I have not found the PSLAS cancel on those stamps.
PSLAS also produced other cancels that were not printed but were likely precancels; a 40 cent stamp is known with a PSLAS perfin and the R175 and R176 dollar value stamps are known with handstamps in black that are similar in appearance to the printed cancels. Examples of these cancels are shown below.
black cancel
orange-red cancel
forty cent pair with red-orange cancel
stamps courtesy of David Thompson
red cancel
black cancel
red cancel
R175 pair with red cancel
red cancel
black cancel
black cancel
PSLAS perfin
My guess is that this perfin was applied as a precancel to this stamp, though an example on document would help confirmation.
PSLAS black handstamp
Made to look like the printed precancels, these handstamps may also have been applied as precancels.
PSLAS black handstamp
Queen Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 14, 1897
Queen Ins. Co.
APR 1 1901
Royal Exchange Assurance
Oops. Royal Assurance granted power of attorney to Robert Dickinson to sell their fire insurance policies in the United States in 1900. He was based in San Francisco. The great San Francisco fire would happen in 1906. The attached document grants Dickinson full POA for the entire United States; this license applies to insurance sold in New York.
Royal Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 14, 1897.
ROYAL INSURANCE CO.
DEC
28
1898
ROYAL INSURANCE CO.
MAY
12
1899
It appears that the horizontal rouletting was faulty in a similar manner at both the bottom and top.
Scottish Union & National Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, November 10, 1898
S. U. & N.
AUG 13 189?
INS. CO.
Security Mutual Life Insurance Company
Advert, The Insurance Times, December 1899
S. M. L. I. CO.
JUL
15
1899
State Life Insurance Company
Advert, The American Exchange and Review, 1903
STATE LIFE INS. CO.
AUG
8
1898
INDIANAPOLIS.
Sun Insurance Office of London
from The Western Underwriter, May 7, 1908
SUN
INS. OFFICE
MAY
15
1900
Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum
Royal Arcanum was founded in 1877 as a fraternal benefit organization. Royal Arcanum still exists today and serves its members with a variety of benefits, including life insurance and annuities.
ROYAL ARCANUM
OCT
6
1898
Teutonia Insurance Company of New Orleans
from The Spectator Insurace Yearbook, 1894
Billhead, Teutonia Insurance Company
of New Orleans
TEUTONIA INS. CO.
JUL 19 1899
New Orleans
TEUTONIA
JUL 10 1899
INS. CO.
Traders Insurance Company
Traders Insurance Company Agent card
a
The Travelers + The Travelers Album + The Travelers Types + Travel Policy
34th Annual Statement of The Travelers Insurance Company from January 1, 1898. The company paid nearly $6 million in life and accident claims in 1897. The company was selling buckets of insurance by 1898, requiring the use of tens of thousands of battleship tax stamps. This post features just a few of those stamps used and canceled directly by The Travelers.
The Travelers "mini-album" contained two types of Travelers handstamped cancels. The first type is a circular date stamp of which only a few examples were included in the book. The second type is a simple initial straight line cancel, for which there are hundreds of examples in two different colors and on all the stamps from R161 to R168.
TRAVELERS INSURANCE CO.
FEB
17
1899
For the initial cancels, the mini-album included two different colors of the cancel, blue and violet. The R161 examples included only blue cancels.
T. I. Co.
NOV 23 1899
Blue
Violet
United Firemens Insurance Company
Advert, The Chronicle, January 14, 1897
UNITE FIREMENS
MAY 19 1899
INSURANCE CO.
United States Fidelity & Guarantee Company
Advert, The Insurance Journal, December 22, 1898
U. S. F. & G. CO.
JUN
10
1899
N. Y.
United States Guarantee Company
Advert, Rhodes Journal of Banking, December, 1892
U. S. GUARANTEE CO.
APR
24
1901
N. Y.
Vermont Life Insurance Company
BURLINGTON, VT.
DEC
30
1898
Vermont Life Ins. Co.
from The Burlington Free Press and Times, January 11, 1886
West Jersey Title & Guaranty Company
West Jersey Title
3/22/1899
& Guaranty Company.
West Jersey Title
1/2/1900
& Guaranty Company.
West Jersey Title
11/15/1900
& Guaranty Company.
Western Mutual Life Association
Western Mutual Life Ass'n,
I. R.
JUL 16 1900
CHICAGO.
scan of R172 courtesy of David Thompson
Western Mutual Life was still doing business in 1923
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