1837 8/6 stamp

Covers and postal matters before 1840.
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earsathome
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:00 pm

1837 8/6 stamp

Post by earsathome »

Hi all,

We have an old letter which mentions an 8/6 stamp.

We have no idea what this may be, presumably it is some form of payment but have never come across it before. We have tried a Google search without success.
Any information gratefully received.

The text reads
Quote
Leith 24 Nov 1837
Dear Sir
We have received your favor of the 22nd Inst enclosing an 8/6 stamp signed by you which you wish us to fill up to the extent it will carry at 1 month, and apply the amount in ordering wheat from Danzig. We are of course desirous to meet you in the most liberal manner we can, but we think we mentioned to you, that we are very desirous to avoid as much as possible having paper in circulation and we would prefer your arranging the present deposit in cash, which can be done afer you shall have seen your friend provided he determines to order wheat from Danzig. 1837
Unquote.

Regards
Ron and Eunice
Winston W
Posts: 113
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 6:00 pm
Location: East Anglia

Re: 1837 8/6 stamp

Post by Winston W »

I don't think the stamp reference is to a stamp as we know it, nor to any of all sorts of labels etc. to pay government taxes before the permanent introduction of income tax.

My best guess is that the reference to the stamp is to a bill of exchange or similar, that was often used to facilitate transactions that occurred between businesses or even individuals in different countries. I know in the 20th century that bills of exchange, "paper", needed to be accepted, often for a period of 90 days, and perhaps the acceptance mark was known in early Victorian times as a "stamp"?
Just a guess that might help...

Winston W
earsathome
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:00 pm

Re: 1837 8/6 stamp

Post by earsathome »

Hi Winston,
Thanks for the response and your thoughts.

We realise that it did not refer to a stamp in the sense used today, and were working on the assumption that it was some sort of promissory note or similar but had not seen it written that way before.

I also put the query on the Stamp Community Forum and this reply was received from
Scotzm
Quote
It would obviously have Revenue purposes and not postal as already mentioned. Promissory note sounds right.
I'd suspect it was a blank bill stamp... the revenue was paid and signed for and the recipient had to fill in the blank spaces on the promissory note with the amount that the revenue stamp would cover at the end of one month (prices of commodities such as wheat would be variable even from day to day on the trading markets).
Unquote.

The problem with this type of research is knowing exactly what to ask Google.
I was looking at 8/6 stamp whereas I should have looked for Blank Bill Stamp.

Your 'Bill of Exchange' seems to fit the bill.

Regards
Ron.
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mozzerb
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Re: 1837 8/6 stamp

Post by mozzerb »

I agree with the SCF suggestion -- that's certainly the way the letter reads. Not sure how much a 8/6 stamp would cover or which type of revenue stamp would be needed -- possibly a "foreign bill" stamp if it was to be applied to buying what from Danzig?

This looks like a good question to ask Chris Harman in his role as GBPS "back of the book" consultant (and also of course the owner of a superb collection of GB revenues). I'd better not post his email address directly here, but the GBPS address is on the page

http://www.gbps.org.uk/officers
Regards
Maurice Buxton
earsathome
Posts: 217
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:00 pm

Re: 1837 8/6 stamp

Post by earsathome »

Mozzerb

Thanks for your thoughts and also for the suggestion.
I have sent an e-mail to Chris but am not sure if this would be in his sphere.

However you obviously know more about him than I do as I have not had much to do with revenues at all
Regards
Ron
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