Tracking Used Documentary Battleship Revenue Stamp Values: 2012 Scott Catalogue Prices

A reader of this site, Sally, emailed to ask the value of some battleship stamps she discovered in an old photo album.  Expectations are always high when old stamps are found.  Is there a fortune in newly discovered old and unfamiliar stamps?  Unfortunately, with battleship revenues, hopes are usually dashed.  In Sally's stash she found the following:

5  2 cent documentaries
1  4 cent documentary
1  5 cent documentary
1 10 cent documentary

All are used on piece.  I have no information about the document or the cancels on the document, or whether the stamps are rouletted or hyphen-holed. 

The new Scott Catalogue for 2012, listing the retail values for these stamps in very fine condition when not attached to their original document, has now been published.  What are the values for Sally's stamps?  I will use examples from my own collection to illustrate.  If you are familiar with the listed prices from last year, they haven't changed. 

2 cent documentary, R 164, used with handstamp cancel

Value, used, rouletted:  30 cents

Value, used, hyphen-holed:  25 cents

Standard, round perforations were not applied to battleship stamps.  Instead, short, knife like cuts called rouletting was applied during the first year and a half of the production of the stamps.  After December 1899, the stamps were perforated with slot-shaped perforations known as hyphen-hole perforations.  The value of these stamps varies by which type of perforation was applied.  On the two cent documentary above, the difference in value between the two types is insignificant.  On the 4 cent stamp below, the difference is significant:

4 cent documentary, R166, used handstamp cancel

Value, used rouletted:  35 cents

Value, used hyphen-hole:  $1.60

5 cent documentary, R167, used with handstamp cancel

Value, used rouletted: 35 cents

Value, used hyphen-hole: 35 cents

10 cent documentary, R168, used with handstamp cancel

Value, used rouletted: 25 cents

Value, used hyphen-hole: 25 cents

For Sally's stamps, unless the document on which her stamps are located has some significance, the stamps do not have much value.  Some of the battleship stamps had 100s of millions of copies of printed, so many are quite common.  However, some of the battleship values, and many in the right condition, may have some real monetary value.  Below I will do a check on the values of the balance of the documentary battleship revenues set in the 2012 Scott Catalogue.

Half cent documentary orange, R161, used with handstamp cancel

Value, used rouletted: $17.50

Value, used hyphen-hole: not issued.

The orange half cent stamp was issued for a brief period, and no hyphen hole versions were produced.  Genuinely used stamps are far scarcer and more valuable than unused stamps.

Half cent documentary gray, R162, used with handstamp cancel

Value, used rouletted:  25 cents

Gray half cent stamps were in use for the majority of the 1898-1902 period.  They are much more common than orange stamps.  No gray stamps are known with hyphen hole perforations.

One cent documentary pale blue, R163, used with handstamp cancel

Value used, rouletted: 25 cents

Value used, hyphen hole:  25 cents

Three cent documentary R165, used with handstamp cancel

Value used, rouletted:  35 cent

Value used, hyphen hole:  $1.40

Twenty five cent documentary R169, used with handstamp cancel

Value used rouletted:  50 cents

Value used hyphen hole:  50 cents

Forty cent documentary R170, used with handstamp cancel

Value used rouletted:  $1.25

Value used hyphen hole:  $30.00

Fifty cent documentary R171 used with handstamp cancel

Value used rouletted:  25 cents

Value used hyphen hole:  $1.00

Eighty cent documentary R172 used with handstamp cancel

Value used rouletted:  50 cents

Value used hyphen hole:  $50.00

In an upcoming post I will review unused values.

A Solo R161 On-Document Usage

United States Casualty Company Limited Travel Accident Policy

Dayton, Ohio August 16,1898

We previously mentioned the existance of this document when conducting a census of on-document usages of R161, the 1/2-cent orange documentary issue. Now, courtesy of Bob Mustacich,we're pleased to show it. Actually it is just one of two reported solo usages of R161. The other five reported on-document usages all are in combination with other stamps.

The need for a 1/2-cent documentary issue resulted from the one-half cent tax per dollar of premium paid on accident, fidelity,and guarantee insurance policies. R161 usages are rare because it was in use for only a short period of time. Because its color so closely matched that of the 3/8-cent proprietary stamp, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing discontinued printings of the 1/2-cent orange after just two days(the exact total printed is unknown) and changed its color to gray. Proper usages of the subsequent gray 1/2-cent issue, R162, aren't exactly common either; but they are not nearly as scarce as the orange variety.

Unlike many travel accident policies that were good for just one-day, or were trip specific, this one covered Chas R. Boes (who also cancelled the stamp)of Dayton, Ohio for a full year; although the death benefit was only $750, much less than the $5,000 that was typical for most single day policies.

Reverse Side of Policy

The census of on-document usages of R161, the 1/2-cent orange documentary, stands at seven reported documents. If you can add an additional usage please contact us, with scans if possible, at 1898revenues@gmail.com.

NOTE: Bob Mustacich , along with Tony Giacomelli, authored The Battleship Desk Reference: A Study Of Proprietary Battleship Revenue Stamps And Their Cancellations. It's an invaluable guide for anyone interested in the proprietary issues. For more information visit Bob's website.

Battleship Revenues: The Documentaries

Since I started this blog a month ago I've focused on railroad cancels on the 2 cent documentary stamp. Yet there are 22 major varieties of documentary battleship stamps. There are also 24 major varieties of proprietary battleship stamps.

Below is an image of the 22 documentary varieties. The top 12 stamps are all rouletted between, rather than using normal round perforations. The bottom 10 stamps are all perforated with hyphen shape perforations known as hyphen holes. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing switched from using rouletting to hyphen-holes sometime in late 1899.
There are 12 rouletted stamps versus 10 hyphen-hole stamps because of the half cent varieties. Enough half cent stamps were printed before the switch to hyphen-holes so that no more half cent stamps were ordered after the switch to hyphen holes. There are two colors of half cent stamps, one orange and one gray. Orange was the original color of the half cent stamp but it was changed to gray because the orange stamp was the same color as the 3/8 cent proprietary stamp and caused too much confusion.

The values of the the documentary stamps include:

1/2 Cent
1 Cent
2 Cents
3 Cents
4 Cents
5 Cents
10 Cents
25 Cents
40 Cents
50 Cents
80 Cents