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Dating Portraits - Tax Stamp

Probably the most reliable of all dating techniques, the presence of a Tax Stamp on the back of a US CDV firmly dates the card to the Civil War era. Revenue taxes were imposed to help pay for the war effort. Better yet, they were supposed to be cancelled by the photographer with his initials and the date, though often the stamp was just marked with an "X" or left un-cancelled.

The amount of the stamp was dictated by the selling price of the card: 2 cents for cards selling for less than a quarter; 3 cents for cards selling for 26 cents to 50 cents; and 5 cents for cards selling for 51 cents to a dollar. Another catagory was added later, 1 cent stamps for cards selling for less than 10 cents each.

If you have a card with a tax stamp, look close at the cancellation, it may give an exact date!

Dating:

Tax stamps were required on photographs from 1 Aug 1864 to 1 Aug 1866. The amendment allowing one cent stamps for very cheap cards was begun in March 1865, so cards with one cent stamps date between March 1865 and 1 Aug 1866.

Observations:

As stated above, this is the only method of dating that may be considered invariably accurate, unless there was some intentional tampering with the card to make it appear older than it is.

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