Forums » Bottle ID - How old is my bottle, When was my bourbon made

State Tax Stamps (usually on shoulder of bottle)

    • 195 posts
    April 4, 2019 4:31 PM PDT

    State Tax Stamps can be useful in dating a bottle of bourbon or whiskey:

     

    1. US State Tax Stamps can usually be a bit more defining for dating purposes, as each State Treasurer was appointed for a 4-yr term, and in most states the Tax Stamp bears their signature for stamps issued while they were in office...some states also included the State Secretary’s signature on the stamps also.
    2. Additionally, each state often changed their Tax Stamp design (size, color, material, etc) every few years, allowing even unsigned stamps to be dated to within a few years.
    3. Some state tax stamps also bear the Tax Rate at the time of issuance (eg $.50 per Gal), and that can be another dating factor to consider, as Alcohol-taxation has changed many times over the past several decades since prohibiton.

     Most of the perforated edge 'postage' style stamps came out after WWII.

     

    • Alabama - AL

    Decal tax stamps were used from 1937 up to 1979 or 1980.

    1940's (In the early and mid's) - Red, White, & Black circular (similar to a"Bulls Eye") decal tax stamps were used. They had an outline of the State in the center.

    1950's - was a Green rectangle decal stamp with White printing and the state seal in the middle.

    1960's - fancy Blue & White decal stamps were used with the state seal on the left side & serial numbers on the bottom.

    1970's - Yellow decal tax stamps were used.

    • Alaska - AK
    • Arizona - AZ
    • Arkansas - AR
    • California - CA
    • Colorado - CO
    • Connecticut - CT
    • Delaware - DE
    • Florida - FL
    • Georgia - GA
    • Hawaii - HI
    • Idaho - ID
    • Illinois - IL
    • Indiana - IN
    • Iowa - IA
    • Kansas - KS
    • Kentucky - KY
    • Louisiana - LA
    • Maine - ME
    • Maryland - MD
    • Massachusetts - MA
    • Michigan - MI
    • Minnesota - MN
    • Mississippi - MS
    • Missouri - MO
    • Montana - MT
    • Nebraska - NE
    • Nevada - NV
    • New Hampshire - NH
    • New Jersey - NJ
    • New Mexico - NM
    • New York - NY
    • North Carolina - NC
    • North Dakota - ND
    • Ohio - OH
    • Oklahoma - OK
    • Oregon - OR
    • Pennsylvania - PA
    • Rhode Island - RI
    • South Carolina - SC
    • South Dakota - SD
    • Tennessee - TN
    • Texas - TX
    • Utah - UT
    • Vermont - VT
    • Virginia - VA
    • Washington - WA
    • West Virginia - WV
    • Wisconsin - WI

    1936 stamps were blue black & pink in the shape of the state & had Treasurer's name at bottom on front.

    1936 also had some "Pharmacist Tax" decals which were White with Orange print in the shape of a shield with the State Treasurer's name at the bottom. 

    1937 stamps had Treasurer's name at bottom on front.

    1939 stamps had Treasurer's name on back of stamp.

    1940 was 7/8"x1" Purple postage type stamps with outline of the state & state seal, with a Red 7 digit serial # on the bottom. The state outline is very close to the left edge and extends down to the top of the serial # block.

    1941 was 7/8"x1" Purple postage type stamps with outline of the state & state seal, with a Red 7 digit serial # on the bottom. The state outline is centered and extends down to the top of the phrase "OCCUPATIONAL TAX".

    1947 the stamps were in shape of the state, had serial numbers starting with a letter, were Green, White, & BLACK, and the state seal & the word "WISCONSIN" were printed in Light Green.

    1947, also had 1/2"x5/8" blue on white "OCCUPATIONAL LIQUOR TAX" stamps.

    1949 stamps were in shape of the state, had serial numbers starting with a letter, were Dark Green, White, & Orange, and the state seal & the word "WISCONSIN" were printed in Light Green & had "TREASURY DEPT" at the bottom.

    1950's stamps were in shape of the state,  had serial numbers starting with a letter, were Dark Green, White, & Orange, and the state seal & the word "WISCONSIN" were printed in Light Green. These decals were also completely surrounded by a thin White border.

    1960's stamps had serial numbers without letters, were Black, White, & Green, and the state seal & the word "WISCONSIN" are printed in Orange.

    1962 the "2oz" or volume description at bottom of stamp was larger than the rest of the printing.

    1978-1979 colors were changed to Black, White, & Red, and the state seal & the word "WISCONSIN" are printed in Green with "volume amount" on the bottom.

    1980's stamps colors were again changed to Black, White, & Silver

     

    State Treasurer's are: (1933-1937 Robert K. Henry)...(1937-1939 Solomon Levitan)...(1939-8/17/47 John M. Smith)...(8/19/47-9/30/48 John Soneregger) ..(10/1/48-1/3/49 Clyde M. Johnson)...(1/3/49- 12/4/57 Warren R. Smith)...(12/5/57-1959 Dena A. Smith)...(1959-1961 Eugene M. Lamb) ...(1961-2/20/68 Dena A. Smith)...(2/21/68-12/31/70 Harold W. Clemens)...(1/1/71-12/30/90 Charles Smith)

    • Wyoming - WY

    NO DATA

     


    This post was edited by admin at April 4, 2019 5:34 PM PDT