One of the greatest collection of revenues of Haiti ever assembled, including a highly researched, eight-frame exhibit the Documentary
One of the greatest collection of revenues of Haiti ever assembled, including a highly researched, eight-frame exhibit the Documentary Revenues of Haiti, 1807 - 1957. The collection contains material from the early 1800s to the end of the 20th century. Most of it is difficult to acquire and impossible to duplicate. The exceptional eight-frame exhibit collection tracing the history and evolution of the documentary revenues of Haiti, beginning with the first recorded fiscal law of 1807 and extending to 1957 with the election of François Duvalier, organised in accordance with the thirty-nine fiscal laws of the period, including French colonial statutes, under which numerous forms of revenue paper and revenue stamps were introduced. Encompassing stamps, documents, proofs, and essays the exhibit includes over thirty five documents, most bearing fiscal handstamps and early tax exemptions, together with more than twenty examples of adhesive revenues on document, with usages recorded between 1883 and 1940 on promissory notes, bank drafts, rent receipts, cheques, passport fee receipts, exit visas, insurance policies, notices of occupation tax, and licence fees, as well as more than one hundred and fifty SPECIMEN overprints, many in blocks, together with several examples of postal usages on cover, and an extensive study of the “Timbres Mobile” issues, the underlying research for which yielded new discoveries relating to printing dates, correcting previously-accepted data. The field of Haitian revenues is replete with elusive and uncommon material, owing not only to the ephemeral nature of the usages but also to the fact that such items were never distributed to collectors, existing only as evidence of fees paid. The collection is rich in rarities, many representing the earliest recorded examples or, in some cases, the only known. Amongst the highlights of this exhibit: the earliest recorded Presidential Tax Exemption (1813); the second earliest reported documentary tax document (1814); one of only two recorded ½ escalin handstamps and the unique example with dotted circle and wreath design (1814); the earliest recorded Military Tax Exemption (1812); the only recorded voucher documenting African American immigration to Haiti (1825); the earliest known use of the 12c handstamp (1821); the earliest recorded use of the 12c handstamp under the 1827–28 fiscal laws of the Republic (struck on a document permitting the disembarkation from the English brig Cleopatra); the earliest recorded use of the 6c handstamp under the same laws, and the second latest taxed document of this period; the latest recorded of only six known documents used during the Haitian occupation of eastern Hispaniola (1839); the earliest and third earliest known usages of a handstamp during the 1851/54 period; and the second earliest recorded handstamp under the fiscal laws of 1864; as well as the only recorded blank stamped revenue paper, and examples for each of the different red handstamps applied between 1818 and (circa) 1936. Later highlights include the 1881 1 c. stamp model for the fiscal essays and a range of Richard & Cie essays following the 1880 authorisation for fiscal issues; the 1883 Erect Palm Fronds design with various shades and usages, including the largest surviving 2 c. on buff multiple in a block of twenty, two of the four known covers (1892/94), and the previously unrecorded 1906 2 c. postal surcharge on the issue; Essays of the unissued 1886–87 “Liberty Head” design; the only two recorded P2OR and P3OR overprints of 1906; the only recorded booklet cover for the 1906 $1 Proportional Tax issue; the unique surviving copy of the 20 gourdes 1906 Proportional Tax; the scarce TM (Timbre Mobile) overprints on the 1914 issue for General Zamor’s Triumphal March; the only recorded 1923 Timbre Mobile locally-overprinted “Provisoire” revenue stamp used for postage; the only used example of the 1923 $3 Timbre Mobile; one of only two recorded examples of the 10 c. stamped paper of the first 1925 series and one of only three of the 20 c.; and one of the only recorded documents bearing a $2 Timbre Mobile stamp of 1925. Pieces originating from the sale of the American Bank Note Co. Archives are noted throughout, including many pre-production items, including the only recorded dated Proofs, mounted on an ABN Co. ledger sheet; Die Proof of the approved design, the unique Die Proof of the original order, and the sole Plate Proof on card of the 1927 Passport & Consular Fee issue; as well as both recorded Die Proofs, the only recorded Plate Proof on card, and the sole American Bank Note Company index card of the 1945 Passport and Consular Fee issue. The above is complemented by supplemental material not incorporated into the award winning exhibit, including dozens of album and stock pages containing many hundreds of stamps, booklet panes, etc., as well as dozens of documents, ranging from several earlier handstamped examples to later material following that covered in the principal study, with much useful material, noting, among others, an example of the rare c. 1914 50 c. claret “Nord Alexis” issue with “GL O Z” and “T.M.” overprints, and a stockbook of ex-ABN Archives SPECIMEN material including approximately 100 blocks as well as many singles, accompanied by some non revenue-related historical documents that were the subject of articles in Haiti Philately including a letter from U.S. Minister Resident to Haiti Ebenezer Bassett, and an 1802 appointment of Sub-Lieutenant Puton to the Army General Staff. Several Moorhouse certificates accompany, some in photocopy. The collection also contains a large number of later documentary revenues, and revenues issued during the Duvalier regime. Revenues for alcohol, cigarettes and cigars, town markets and fairs and horse tethering are also found in proof, mint and used examples. Most of this material is extremely uncommon, and difficult to acquire on the philatelic market. This is a collection of superior quality for its type, in most instances the material being among the finest available, remarkable given the fragile and ephemeral nature of the documents, the harsh climate, and the frequent civil unrest that has afflicted Haiti. A groundbreaking collection, ideal for expansion, its foundational research yielding tremendous potential for further study, in an area still rich with potential for discovery.
