Advertisement for a philatelic exhibit demonstrating the geographic progression of revenue stamp usage in Nevada during its classic period of fiscal history: from the arrival of U.S. Civil War revenues in Nevada Territory in March 1863; through the imposition of state stamp taxes in 1865; until the expiration of virtually all of those taxes in February 1873. Why Nevada? Why a Geographic Analysis? A "perfect storm" of factors combine to make Nevada uniquely suited to a such an analysis. It is "only" a state, and this is only one decade; but what a state, what a decade!

1. Nevada Fiscal History 1863–1873
This exhibit demonstrates the geographic progression of revenue stamp
usage in Nevada during its classic period of fiscal history: from the arrival
of U.S. Civil War revenues in Nevada Territory in March 1863; through
the imposition of state stamp taxes in 1865; until the expiration of virtually
all of those taxes in February 1873.
Why Nevada? Why a Geographic Analysis?
A “perfect storm” of factors combine to make Nevada uniquely suited to a
such an analysis. It is “only” a state, and this is only one decade; but what
a state, what a decade! Consider first the philatelic factors.
4¢ imperforate
10¢ roulette 10
1. Nevada issued its own stamps.
This was not a common
occurrence; only four other states
of the 45 did so during the 19th
century. This was a robust issue,
with ten denominations and a
complex variety of separation
methods.
2. Nevada taxed everything.
Only Nevada enacted a broad
slate of stamp taxes, mimicking
the federal schedule. For the
next seven years, nearly every
document was required to bear
2¢ roulette 15x18 25¢ roulette 15x10 both U.S. and state stamps. In
this Nevada stands alone. The
other classic state stamps of the
1850s–1870s were usually affixed
to only a single class of documents
(Alabama tax on seals, Louisiana
Lottery stamps, Oregon Insurance
stamps);
even
California’s
5¢ roulette 10x15
2¢ roulette 18
celebrated “Gold Rush revenues,”
with the exception of the ultra-rare Attorney stamps, were affixed only
to commercial documents, the great majority used in San Francisco. In
1871 deed to the Mexican
Mill, Carson River, amount
$130,000, bearing $130
in U.S and state revenues,
including the rare Nevada
$10 and $20 (x6)

2. Chronology of Settlement
Pages
1. Comstock Region
2–10
Rich strikes of silver and gold in 1859 on the Comstock
Lode in western Utah Territory led to formation of Nevada
Territory in 1861. The commercial center of the Lode,
Virginia City, perched on a remote, barren mountainside
and complemented by nearby Gold Hill, quickly became
the second leading city of the West, eclipsed only by San
Francisco. American City had an eyeblink-brief existence
circa 1864.
7. Hum
Disc
triggere
up at U
Oreana
Route”
the nort
with Su
Galena
2. Comstock Adjacent
11–16
1867 receipt made at remote Summit
Virginia City was accessed from the south via Gold
Springs, in northwestern Humboldt County.
Canyon. Dayton, at its mouth, became an important supply
point. Silver City, about halfway up, was also a key transit
point, and the center of modestly successful mining. 11, 14
The taxed deeds or mortgages, for which the
particular, no other state famed Sutro Tunnel drained the deep levels of the
Lode to its mouth an astounding 3.8 miles southeast on the
big-ticket items of Nevada are the most spectacular federal-state
Carson River plain.
12
dual stampings extant. Palmyra Mining District radiated southeast of
The
Dayton, with ephemeral camps at Palmyra, Como and
3. Its stamps were ubiquitous.
Georgetown.
13
Milling of Comstock everyday transactions—
Nevada’s stamps were required on ore was powered chiefly by the
Carson River, site of the Eureka and Mexican Mills and
checks (provided many others. a bank!), receipts, promissory notes,
there was
15
certificates, deeds and the like—and thus on the used in every farAdjoining the Comstock were west and north was
flung corner of theWashoe making geographicalfarm products and other
state, County, where lumber, analysis natural and
supplies were transported to the Lode via Washoe by as in
inviting. When surviving stamped documents are arranged City and
the new railroad town of Reno.
16
8
9. Nye C
Pros
District
motivat
but the
was mo
emptied
11
4
6
9
17–18
In alone of the Comstock, yet standing apart as of
These first three factorsthe orbit raise the “philatelic importance”the
Territorial capital.
Nevada’s fiscal history almost immeasurably.
4. Douglas County
13
5
the present exhibit, the entire panorama of settlement is revealed
3. Carson City
12
7
1
8. Reese
Rich
Overlan
followin
soon ecl
includin
miles no
10
19
4. Nevada Territory stock certificates, a unique classsupplied
Sparsely populated; farms, ranches, lumbering of
the Comstock; traversed by key trans-Sierra routes. Locations
collectibles
Young’s Bridge, Genoa, Vansickles.
Even so, the importance of revenue usage in Nevada stems not
5. Churchill County
20
merely from the eight year span when its documentary stamps were
Virtually empty, on overland routes, few waystations and
in use, 1865–1873,ranches, the entire county hadTerritorial only 192 as1870!
but from its preceding population period in well,
when the U.S. documentary taxes were in force. This brief period
6. Esmeralda County
20–22
produced one of the most visually appealing and compelling classes
Esmeralda District, with Aurora as commercial center,
was all of philately, the Nevada Territory stock
of stamped articles inthe second Nevada region to experience a major mining
“rush,” beginning in late 1860. Both California and Nevada
certificates.
claimed this rich region; Aurora was declared the county
seat of both Mono County, Lode had fully imbued
By 1862 the richness of Nevada’s ComstockCalifornia and Esmeralda
County, Nevada Territory! In September
public consciousness in the West, most notably in San1863 a boundary
Francisco and
survey placed Aurora within Nevada.
2
3
1
2
Nevada’s county map was essentially finalized
after creation of Eureka County in 1873.
10. Linc
Ab
of Linc
fabulou
county,
only to
11. Whi
In la
discove
level in
furious
county
Hamilto
northeas
12. Elko
With
Elko, on
Nevada
13. Eur
Eure
respons
included

3. Left, stock certificate issued at Santa Clara, Humboldt County, Nevada Territory, the
only recorded certificate from this short-lived camp. The central vignette reproduces the
great seal of the Territory.
Right, stock certificate issued at Aurora, Esmeralda County, Nevada Territory.
Note the printed dateline “Aurora, Mono Co., Cal.” Aurora and the adjacent
Esmeralda Mining District were claimed by both Esmeralda County and Mono
County, California, until a boundary survey showed they were indeed in Nevada!
environs, and there commenced a riotous period of “silver fever,” wonderfully summarized in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine of August 1865:
There was no good reason why these same veins [of the Comstock] should not be discovered for miles north and south of their present
points of boundary. There was no good reason why a hundred other “Comstocks” might not be found, or why every quartz ledge might not
be of equal richness. The busy era of adventure, enterprise and toil was followed by the era of “wild cat.” From October, 1862, until March,
1864, speculation ran riot, and the Territory of Nevada was converted into one vast swindling stock exchange. The rich developments upon
this famed Comstock Ledge, the growing exports of bullion from the Esmeralda region, discovered in 1861, the glittering promise from
quartz ledges discovered in Humboldt County, and the rich assays of “chloride” rock from the Reese River country, whose mineral wealth
was discovered in the autumn of 1862, all exaggerated tenfold, frenzied the public mind upon the subject of silver mining, and a feverish
gambling excitement usurped the places formerly occupied by legitimate and prudent adventure. Hundreds of companies with capitals—on
paper—of from $500,000 to $5,000,000 each, were formed every month in California and Nevada. Every merchant and merchant’s clerk,
every mechanic, every laborer, every servant girl, in every city and village on the Pacific coast, was in possession of a pocketful of stock
not inappropriately designated as “wild-cat.” A grocery importer in San Francisco complained that he could not get his business properly
attended to, because his book-keeper and assistant were President and Secretary, and his salesmen and porters Trustees of a flourishing mining
company, and the necessities of the stock market deranged the due delivery of sugars and teas. Montgomery Street, in San Francisco, and
C Street in Virginia—which had now become a city of 20,000 inhabitants—were thronged from morning until night with crowds buying
and selling stock, chaffing each other, and exhibiting specimens of quartz. Three stock boards, with rooms magnificently furnished, were
in full operation in San Francisco. Sacramento, Marysville, and Stockton, each had their stock board. In Virginia City there were four,
and transactions to the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars were often made in an hour. A report of a “rich strike,” a report of a

4. Below, stock certificate issued at Austin, Nevada Territory,
printed in red, blue and black with pink underprint.
Above, stock certificate issued at Virginia [City], Nevada Territory.
Companies used colorful shares to lure investors.
mine being “salted,” an alleged discovery of the Comstock, a rumor that the Supreme Court would grant an injunction, a rumor that the
Supreme Court would raise an injunction—any or all of such would affect the value of prominent stocks from 20 to 100 per cent. in a
day. ... Of every hundred who invested in mining stock ninety-nine never saw, or intended to see, or designed to work the mine. To sell
out, to speculate, to gamble was the object of all. What wonder that when the bubble burst, it did late in the spring of 1864, the distrust
and disgust was as wide-spread as the disaster it brought.
The Nevada Territory stock certificates are among the most visible and enjoyable reminders of this riotous episode. They are rare—only a few hundreds
have survived, usually in ones and twos from family archives—sometimes lithographed but most often quaintly typeset, often printed in color and usually
illustrated, utterly charming in their variety of fanciful names. To see them is to admire and desire them. Certainly they are among the most visually
appealing items ever to bear stamps.
To be sure, there were many other Western mining certificates issued in the 1860s, most notably for California ventures, but nothing remotely comparable
to the veritable explosion of those for Nevada. Moreover, essentially all certificates for ventures elsewhere were issued either in San Francisco or the
East: there are no recorded stamped Territorial mining certificates of the 1860s issued in the other mining Territories like Colorado, Montana, Arizona
or New Mexico, and just one from Idaho. For Nevada some 375 certificates have been recorded, for 274 companies, issued in 23 different towns!
Of these 23 origins, nine are represented by a single example, and five more by just two or three recorded examples. Certificates from all but one of
these origins are included in this exhibit.
25¢ “Blaze of Glory” in the West
As an added philatelic bonus, these certificates can be found bearing all eight U.S. 25¢ First Issue titles: Bond, Certificate, Entry of Goods, Insurance,
Life Insurance, Power of Attorney, Protest and Warehouse Receipt, nearly all imperforate or part perforate. The U.S. Civil War stamp taxes took effect

5. October 1, 1862, but no stamps reached agencies in the West until February 28, 1863, when $750,000 in stamps arrived in San Francisco on the Pacific
Mail steamer Golden Age (exhibitor’s research). Included were imperforate and part perforate stamps in a dazzling variety and quantity, the detritus
of a failed experiment—the requirement for matching usage of documentary stamps (Agreement stamps on agreements, Bank Check stamps on bank
checks, etc.), which had been rescinded December 25, 1862. Elsewhere in the country, the stock of imperforates and part perforates appears to have
been virtually exhausted by mid-1863. In the West, though, their use continued for years; if not always the rule, it was certainly not the exception.
The use of 25¢ stamps in the West, though, is a special case. During the speculative mania of 1862–4, mining stocks were issued in such prodigious
numbers, each taxed at 25¢, that virtually the entire supply of 25¢ stamps sent West was consumed in a figurative blaze of glory that was over by late
1863! Eastern certificates of the same period show nothing remotely approaching this variety.
A Brief Digression: General Historical Importance
“Philatelic importance” has often been completely uncorrelated to general historical importance. The stamps of Mauritius are arguably the most
philatelically important extant despite the fact that Mauritius itself, as a player on the world stage, probably ranks, say, 2 or 3 on a scale of 10. Political
correctness, and strict interpretation of codified judging criteria, reinforce this notion: “a country is a country is a country.” I prefer to believe, with
apologies to George Orwell, that “all countries are created equal, but some are more equal than others.” When choosing between areas of fiscal history,
whose stamped documents generally give far more detail than
postal covers about the persons and events involved, it seems
obviously preferable to pick the area for which those persons,
places and events have greater historical significance. By this
criterion, the classic fiscal history of Nevada ranks near the top.
5. Temporal congruence between fiscal history and
underlying general history.
In Nevada, as in precious few other places, documents from
its classic period of revenue stamp usage closely reflect its
early history. That philatelically classic era begins with the
arrival of U.S. Civil War revenues in Nevada Territory in
March 1863, and extends through the expiration of virtually
all state stamp taxes in February 1873. This corresponds
closely with the chronology of settlement: Nevada was
created in 1861, and the county map was essentially finalized
in 1873. Surviving revenue-stamped documents thus provide
a “ground floor view” of these early days, comparable to,
say, New York documents from the time of Henry Hudson or
Peter Minuet!
Because Nevada’s early years were its most historically
important, documents generated then are far more likely to
involve historically significant persons, places or events than
those from the long-settled parts of the country.
Virginia City in 1875, perched precariously on the steep slopes of Mt. Davison (National Archives)

6. 6. Nevada’s early history was remarkable.
The early history of Nevada, so closely mirrored in its early stamped documents, occupies an exalted place in national and world history of the
1860s-1870s. Its history during these decades was dominated by—but certainly not restricted to—that of the celebrated Comstock Lode, a narrow
expanse on a remote mountain roughly two miles in length concealing in its depths a veritable treasure trove of silver and gold. Consider:
During the 1860s and ’70s the Comstock produced a whopping $300 million in silver and gold (at the then-current prices of $1.29 and $20.67
per ounce for silver and gold; at current prices the equivalent of several billions). Virginia City, its commercial center, quickly became the second
leading city of the West, eclipsed only by San Francisco. John Mackay, the unassuming former mineworker who had a two-fifths interest in the
richest mines, became the richest man in the world.
Comstock silver and gold was instrumental in financing the Union’s Civil War effort.
When the Comstock was discovered in 1859, the California Gold Rush had largely run its course; production was still relatively high, but no new
sources were being uncovered. As the first major mining discovery outside California, the Comstock provided a much-needed impetus to Western
mining, stimulating exploration throughout the region.
The discovery of this immense amount of silver shook the international financial community to its core. Just as the great flow of gold from
California beginning in 1849 had caused many European bankers and governments to divest themselves of the gold in favor of silver, now the
outpouring of silver from the Comstock had the opposite effect; the U.S. government’s demonetization of silver in February 1873 (“the Crime of
’73”) was undoubtedly influenced by the Comstock’s Crown
Point-Belcher bonanza of 1871, which ultimately yielded some
$65 million.
Comstock mining produced engineering marvels. The gigantic
pumps unwatering its deep mines were most powerful machines
anywhere in the world. Three remarkable feats were pronounced
impossible until accomplished: the Sutro Tunnel, drilled more
than three miles through mountains, from the Carson River
plain to the deep reaches of the Lode; the competing Virginia
and Truckee Railroad, descending 1600 feet in ten mountainous
miles from the Lode to the Carson River mills; and the Virginia
and Gold Hill Water Co. pipeline, from the Sierra Nevada to
Virginia City, under pressure more than double that of any other
line in the world. Documents pertaining to all three are featured
in this exhibit.
1869 stock certificate of the Virginia & Truckee Rail Road Co., signed as
president by William Sharon, tightly held by company insiders, one of five recorded.

7. 7. Documents involving the prime players have survived.
Nevada is extraordinary in the extent to which documents have survived involving its major
events and famous figures, of a sort that normally never reach collectors’ hands. The “Newlands
Find” yielded deeds to the Brunswick, Eureka, Mexican, Pioneer, and Santiago Mills, involving
Comstock titans like William Sharon, Agent of the Bank of California in Virginia City and
“cock of the walk” on the Comstock during 1865–1872, five-time Senator John P. Jones, Bank
of California President D. O. Mills, and Alvinza Hayward (namesake of Hayward, California).
Equally extraordinary survivors include the 1870 Central Pacific Railroad deed to Adolph Sutro
for the land encompassing the mouth of the celebrated Sutro Tunnel and the surrounding town of
Sutro, signed by Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins; and the 1871 deed to the famed Raymond
and Ely Mine in booming Lincoln County, Nevada’s richest mine outside the Comstock. There is
no counterpart to this elsewhere in the West, or indeed anywhere in the country.
8. Nevada’s early towns were ephemeral.
Even Nevada’s tiny camps and towns were distinctive; there were none of the nondescript villages
common in the East and Midwest. Nearly all resulted from mining “rushes,” excitedly erected to
accommodate hoped-for bonanzas. Others sprang up at transportation hubs, or at advantageous
points along the transcontinental Central Pacific railroad. Not surprisingly, the mining settlements
usually proved ephemeral, many with only an eyeblink-brief existence; often their precious early
paper relics are all that remain, the towns having vanished leaving little or no trace.
Surviving documents from this region, in comparison with those from the rest of the country (or
the world!), are thus exponentially more likely to be rare and historical simply by virtue of their
places of origin, so many of which existed only very briefly.
1871 deed to Eureka Mill, ex-“Newlands Find”
History, geography and philately are as closely intertwined here
as for any other place or time.