This pair of documents appeared together on eBay last week. I put in a snipe, somewhat fearful of what the lot might go for, but I guess people were busy or missed it, as the lot ended up finishing nowhere near what I expected.

It’s a pair of drafts from the National Black River Bank in Proctorsville, Vermont, each with a 2-cent postage stamp used illegally as a revenue stamp, tied with handstamp cancel. One went through uncaught, whereas the other one was caught at the bank where submitted, the National Exchange Bank in Boston, where a revenue stamp was subsequently affixed and hammered by a bold boxed handstamp cancel.

The added bonus being that both documents are dated July 1, 1898, the first day of the tax!

Wonderful contrasting pair of first day, illegal use documents.