In today's inspection of my collections, I decided to open up the too long neglected Revenue albums. I found this set of three large QV era revenues. These are about 15 inches long by 8 inches wide, with a large format "stamp" at the top. I put "stamp" in quotes because I'm not sure what exactly these were used for or even if they were currency versus revenue stamps. The back of two has a CDS as shown in the scan (from the 1R). I could not find this in Barefoot. I scanned the front and back of the 1 Rupee note.
I have seen the rose-colored 1 rupee stamp before. It even has a revenue cut cancel. I am certain the others are revenues as well. I am by no means an expert though.
These are referred to as Revenue 'stamped papers', so you won't find these in Barefoot.
"Stamped paper has been widely used around the world to collect taxes on documents requiring stamping, such as leases, agreements, receipts, court documents and many others. The papers are bought blank apart from the pre-printed stamp and are available from stationers, lawyers offices, post offices and courts according to local regulations. The parties to the matter then write their legal business on the paper and lodge it with the court or other interested party. This is an efficient way of collecting taxes and stamping documents without the need to submit them to a separate government stamp office."
There's a mass of information on the web; a lot from societies dedicated to studying these. It would seem that every single Indian state had their own versions.
I believe these are listed in "The Court Fee and Revenue Stamps of the Princely States of India: an Encyclopedia and Reference Manual" by Alfred Koeppel (1983, 348pp). There was also a 218-page supplement published in 1986.
