TRANSFER DUTY

Transfer duty stamps were used to pay tax on the transfer of stocks and shares.

The stamps were of the key plate design. The overprint included the year since if the shares were transferred more than once in any one year the tax was only payable on the first transaction.

Not only was the overprint modified for each year, the colour of the stamps was also changed, presumably to aid quick identification. This is the only instance where the Queen Victoria key plate design appeared in non-standard colours.

The tax varied according to the face value of the shares, the rate being 3d below £25, 6d below £50, plus 6d per £50 thereafter. Thus, only the following sub-set fo the key plate values were needed :- 3d, 6d, 1s, 1s6d, 2s, 2s6d, 4s (excluding 1888), 5s and 10s.

Cancellations

The stamps were required to show the that a tax had been paid for that year, and the stamp was changed on subsequent years. Thus there was little incentive to think about attempting to re-use a stamp and this may account for the majority of these stamps turning up un-cancelled. However they can also be found with handstamp and manuscript cancels.

The stamp may also be found postally used. However the stamp was never valid for postage and hence such usage is very rare. The above example was used in 1894, three years after it should have been used on a document.

Varieties

A number of values from the various years can be found with the short oblique.