PBA Galleries

Albumen photograph CDV. 10.3x6 cm (4x2¼");  in Optium Museum Acrylic glass frame: 15.6x11.5 cm (6¼x4½").

Half-length portrait of Custer facing left. With two-cent revenue stamp from wartime photography tax affixed to reverse.

On August 1, 1864 the Internal Revenue department passed a 'photograph tax' requiring photographers to pay a tax on the sale of their photographs. By 1864 there were no 'photography tax' stamps issued, so other stamps were substituted, typically, the proprietary or playing card revenue stamps was used, usually affixed to the back of the photograph. Already burdened with high overhead costs and scarcity of materials because of the war, large photograph companies organized and petitioned Congress, complaining that they were shouldering too much of the tax burden placed on the public. After exactly two years their constant efforts resulted in the tax being repealed on August 1, 1866.