Sierra Leone
Revenue Issue of 1886
The Crown Colony of Sierra Leone generally relied on on standard postage and revenue stamps for tax use. This ''Stamp Duty'' issue of 1886 or 1887 was an exception to this rule. There were seven values (ranging from one penny to one pound) in the set.
L.N. Williams writes, ''The collecting of fiscals, which are non-postal tax or revenue stamps, is widespread, but is often limited to certain issues" (21). Such stamps are generally regarded as cinderellas although the use of adhesive stamps for tax purposes pre-dates the use of adhesive postage stamps. Adhesive revenue stamps were first introduced in Britain in 1694.
Bibliography
British Commonwealth Revenues. York: J. Barefoot Ltd., 2000.
Mackay, James. Collecting Stamps. Glasgow: HarperCollins, 1999.
Williams, L.N. Fundamentals of Philately. State College, Penn.: American Philatelic Society, 1990.
© Grose Educational Media, 2004-2019
