Revenue Reverend
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South Africa - Entertainments Duty (Cape, OFS, Transvaal)

 
Chapter overview
  • Cape
  • Orange Free State
  • Transvaal

Acknowledgments for this section can be found on the main Southern Africa page.

Currency
  • ​(1917-1961) 20 shillings = 1 South African pound (12 pence = 1 shilling)
  • (1961-) 100 cents = 1 South African rand

Cape

Picture
E2/5
PictureE4a (image from Barefoot)
1922 (earliest recorded usage).  50 x 24 mm.  Wide horizontal design featuring Arms of the Union, with Afrikaans inscription spelt VERMAKELIKHEIDSBELASTING.  Narrow figures of value in sans-serif font.  Rouletted.

​  E2. 2d red
  E4. 6d black on rose (
ZES PENNIES at lower right)
   a. ZESPENNIES without space at lower right
  E5. 9d purple


Note: E4a is known only from the example illustrated in Barefoot's catalogue, which seems to show a lattice pattern background to the design.  Other values may exist in similar type.

Picture
E11/12
c1925-30.  Similar type but narrower font, and now with a background comprising wavy lines with the words UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA / UNIE VAN SUID AFRIKA appearing horizontally in large white letters.  Rouletted.

​  E11. 1d black and green
  E12. 2d red
Picture
E21/23
1936 (earliest recorded usage).  Arms type as before but a new printing (probably by
the Government Printer in Pretoria
) in smaller format (48 x 21 mm) with sharper impression, figures of value in seriffed font and
Afrikaans inscription VERMAAKLIKHEDEBELASTING.  Perf 14 x 15.  Security background of wavy lines in second colour similar to E11/12 but reading downwards.

  E21. 1d black and greenish 
blue
  E22. 2d rose-carmine
  E23. 3d orange
Picture
E31/45 (except 2s E42 - shown below right)
PictureVertical pairs - bilingual (3d and 4d) or both examples Afrikaans (2s) - see note 4
1943-55.  Numeral type inscribed ENTERTAINMENTS DUTY (English) or VERMAAKLIKHEDEBELASTING (Afrikaans).  Perf 14 x 15.  Wmk Springbok's Head (sideways), sometimes very faint.

  E31. 1d carmine-rose
  E32. 2d violet
  E33. 3d 
ultramarine
  E34. 4d purple-brown
  E35. 5d deep green
  E36. 6d red-orange
  E37. 8d bright green
  E38. 9d mauve
  E39. 10d sepia

  E40. 1s blue
​  E41. 1s2d deep green
  E42. 2s black
  E43. 2s6d red-brown
  E44. 5s magenta
  E45. 10s yellow

Notes: 

1. This issue shows some variation in shade and also in paper type from white to cream.  These features may indicate different printings, although the information currently available is inconclusive.  The shades of the 2d and 10d values, formerly listed with this set, have now been deleted.
2. The size of the design varies slightly from one value to another though most measure roughly 21½ x 18½ mm, except the 5d which is significantly smaller at 20½ x 17 mm.  English stamps are slightly taller than the Afrikaans stamps.
3. Two different sheet sizes are known for this issue: a single pane of 240 (12 rows of 20) for the 3d, 4d, 5d, 9d, 10d and 1s, or two panes of 120 (12 rows of 10) separated by a central perforated gutter for the 1d, 2d, 6d, 1s2d, 2s6d and 5s.  (The format for the 8d, 2s and 10s is unknown.)  The format is complicated by the arrangement of stamps within the sheet: all values to the 1s except the 9d have English and Afrikaans stamps alternating both horizontally and vertically, whereas the 9d plus the 1s2d and above have languages alternating only column by column such that vertical pairs are in the same language (see the 2s pair illustrated above right).  The 2s6d and 5s were printed in a composite sheet arrangement, with one pane of each value printed in the same sheet tête-bêche relative to each other.
​4. The 2d, 3d and 4d are known to have been sold in booklets of 240 stamps.


Printings from 1949 onwards (from the South African Post Office archives):
  • March 1949: 1d, 4d, 6d, 9d, 1s, 2s6d, 5s
  • March 1950: 2d
  • September 1950: 1d
  • November 1951: 1d, 4d, 6d, 1s, 1s2d
  • December 1952: 2d, 6d
  • May 1953: 1d, 3d, 4d, 1s
  • August 1954: 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d, 6d, 10d, 1s
  • June 1955: 1d
  • September 1955: 5d

Picture
E51/57
1961-63.  Numeral type similar to E31/45 but in decimal currency, and with Afrikaans inscription now shown as VERMAAKLIKHEIDSBELASTING.

  E51. 1c carmine-rose
  E52. 2c deep violet
  E53. 3c deep blue
  E54. 4c chocolate
  E55. 5c orange-red
  E56. 10c blue

  E57. 20c grey-black

Notes:
1. Two different watermarks appear on this issue, but I avoid listing them separately since both are so faint as to be almost impossible to distinguish.  The first watermark is Coat of Arms (sideways), known on all values.  All values except the 3c and 20c are also known reprinted (probably around 1963) with wmk RSA in triangle.
2. Oscar van der Vliet has pointed out that different values of this set give different reactions under ultra-violet light.  According to Oscar, the 1c and 5c are on whitened paper, the 2c on normal paper and the 4c is known on both whitened and normal.  Further research in this area may reveal evidence of different printings of other values of the set.

Natal - click here


Orange Free State
 

The Entertainments Duty stamps of Orange Free State are inscribed bilingually, with both English and Afrikaans appearing on each stamp.
 


c1915-20 (according to Barefoot).  Arms of the Province.
Picture
#1-4 (images of #2, #2b and #3 from Kamffer collection)
a) Pence values with lower-case 'd', seriffed font

  1. 1d rose-red
  2. 2d green

   a. '2d' larger
   b. '2' wider
  3. 4d ?colour
  4. 6d purple-brown


 
Picture
#11-14
b) Pence values with lower-case 'd', sans-serif font

  11. 1d orange-yellow
  12. 2d blue

  13. 3d deep yellow
  14. 9d brown-purple

 
Picture
#21-25 (2d illustration taken from Barefoot)
c) Pence values with capital 'D'

  21. 1d red
  22. 2d blue
  23. 3d orange
  24. 4d violet
  25. 6d sepia

 
Picture
#31-33
d) Shilling values, seriffed font (#32a) or sans-serif (others)

  31. 1s black
  32. 1s6d green

  a. Deep greenish blue, taller figures of value
  33. 1s8d red


 
c1920.  Revenue stamps printed directly onto entertainment tickets.  All stamps printed in black; colour of paper given below.
Picture
#41-45 including the three types of 3d
a) Lower-case 'd' in value tablet

  41. 1d grey-lilac
  42. 2d cream
  43. 3d orange-red
    a. No stop after d
    b. Stop after d, small figure of value
  44. 4d bright purple
  45. 6d grey

 
Picture
#51-54
b) Capital 'd' in value tablet

  51. 1d pink
  52. 2d cream
  53. 3d orange-red
  54. 4d bright purple

Transvaal

Picture
E1/5 (no complete image of E3 currently available)
c1931-41.  48 x 21 mm.  Wide horizontal design featuring Arms of the Union, with Afrikaans inscription spelt VERMAAKLIKHEDEBELASTING.  Large figures of value in centre.  Security background pattern of ovals and diamonds.  Rouletted (5d) or perf 14 x 15 (others).  Probably printed by the Government Printer in Pretoria.

  E1. 1d carmine
  E2. 2d deep blue
  E3. 3d deep green
  E4. 5d orange

  E5. 6d brown
Picture
E11/15
PictureE13a
1940-49.  Numeral type inscribed ENTERTAINMENTS DUTY or VERMAAKLIKHEDE-BELASTING, with English and Afrikaans alternating both horizontally and vertically in the sheet.  Perf 15 x 14.  Wmk Springbok's Head.

  E11. 1d carmine
  E12. 3d blue
  E13. 6d
orange
   a. Rouletted

  E14. 7d claret
  E15. 9d bright green

Note:
there are no reference copies of this issue in the South African Post Office archives, which cover the period from 1949 onwards, so it is deduced that all printings of E11/15 were
made before that date.

Picture

​From 1959 onwards entertainment duty was collected using preprinted tickets which carried an impression of a revenue stamp, as illustrated at right.  Unlike the equivalent issues for Orange Free State, Transvaal tickets did not include an image of a stamp.

The Day Books of the South African Government printer record seven different sterling duties (1d, 4d, 6d, 9d, 2s3d, 2s6d) and ten decimal values dated 1960-63 (1c, 3c, 5c, 6c, 7c, 8c, 13c, 15c, 23c, 65c).  Other duties may have been issued besides these but are not known to have survived.



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