1864 Luxury Tax

I had taken this photograph out of its case to scan it and discovered a mysterious stamp on the back.  It didn't look like a postage stamp, so I did an online search.

 

Pressed metal frame insert

The mysterious stamp

Penciled initials with "July"

The photo was taken between 1864 and 1866.  The subject appears to be in his mid-twenties, so I'm guessing he was born around 1840.  The photographer, whose initials were "BR," collected 2% of the cost of the photograph as a luxury tax. 

Revenue Stamps: 1864 Luxury Tax funds for the Union during the Civil War

By Act of Congress in August 1,1864 to August 1,1866, a tax was levied on the sale of luxury items to support the war for the Union. Sellers of "photographs, Ambrotype, daguerreotypes, carte de visite or any sun pictures" affix stamps to the backs of photographs at the time of sale, exempting photographs too small for the stamp. The denomination of the stamp was proportionate to the cost of the photograph, according to the following schedule (one cent stamps were used only when the appropriate denomination was unavailable):

Price of Photo          Tax 1864-1866          Stamp Color        

Less than.25                     .2                            Blue/Orange

.25 to .50                         .3                            Green

.50 to $1.                         .5                            Red

Greater than $1.               .5                            Red

The seller (photographer) would cancel the stamp by initializing and dating it. It was common to simply cancel with a quick stroke of the pen. Stamps properly canceled are valuable because the image can be precisely dated and the photographer accurately attributed.  Other kinds of stamps were used besides the regular Internal Revenue Stamp. Stamps specifically for photographs were never produced, it was left up to the photographer to use a stamp of the proper denomination.

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