1882 Queen Victoria Postal Fiscals
| | Cat. |
Mint Unhinged |
Mint Hinged |
Fine Used |
2/- |
Blue |
6a |
$315.00 |
|
$144.00 |
|
$21.60 |
|
2/6 |
Brown |
6b |
$360.00 |
|
$144.00 |
|
$21.60 |
|
3/- |
Mauve |
6c |
$810.00 |
|
$315.00 |
|
$31.50 |
|
4/- |
Red / Brown |
6d |
$810.00 |
|
$315.00 |
|
$45.00 |
|
5/- |
Green |
6e |
$1,080.00 |
|
$360.00 |
|
$45.00 |
|
6/- |
Rose |
6f |
$1,620.00 |
|
$540.00 |
|
$99.00 |
|
7/- |
Blue |
6g |
$2,250.00 |
|
$585.00 |
|
$135.00 |
|
8/- |
Blue |
6h |
$2,700.00 |
|
$720.00 |
|
$157.50 |
|
9/- |
Orange |
6i |
$3,600.00 |
|
$990.00 |
|
$324.00 |
|
10/- |
Brown / Red |
6j |
$2,700.00 |
|
$495.00 |
|
$72.00 |
|
15/- |
Green |
6k |
$5,400.00 |
|
$1,980.00 |
|
$540.00 |
|
£1 |
Rose |
6l |
$3,150.00 |
|
$900.00 |
|
$270.00 |
|
| |
|
Set of 12 |
6m |
$23,555.25 |
|
$7,113.60 |
|
$1,674.10 |
|
While Fiscal stamps were obviously intended primarily for fiscal purposes,
early legislation allowed them to be used for postage. The 1898 Pictorials
had two and five shilling stamps which were used for parcel postage, and
the 1926 Admirals had two and three shilling stamps but for the rest of the
period between 1882 and 1926, higher postage rates were met using the
fiscal stamps.
The difficulty is knowing which values to include and
which to exclude from a collection (or catalogue!). The full set of fiscal
stamps go up to one thousand pounds, but even in 1930, postage on a single
item could not cost over two pounds. However, bulk postage on a number of
items could be paid for by higher value stamps on a receipt form, so this
doesn't completely rule out their use. For simplicity, this catalogue
lists only those stamps that were postally used on a regular
basis.
Distinguishing postally and fiscally used stamps can be quite
tricky. All stamps with pen cancellations, punched holes or embossing are
fiscally used. Stamps should be inspected under ultraviolet light to see if
a fiscal pen cancellation has been removed. Embossed designs were
frequently employed on documents and attempts to iron these out have been
noted in the past. If the stamps have been postmarked, fiscal cancellations
give the region while postal cancellations give the individual post office
where the mail was cancelled. Simple circular date stamps with no region or
place, and circular 'Stamp Duties Dept' date stamps on Arms issues
are fiscal cancellations, and if only the outer ring of the cancellation is
visible on the stamp it is safest to assume you have a fiscal cancellation.
The Queen Victoria Postal Fiscals were issued in 1880 and approved
for postal use in 1882. They remained the only high value set until 1931
when the arms type fiscals were introduced, and were not withdrawn from
sale until 1939.
If you have any questions or comments please contact us - we'd love to hear from you.
This page was last updated on 28 Feb 2021
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