Entertainment Revenue Stamps 1939-1985. Collection of My Posts from Facebook.

Many of the stamps and documents shown in the posts below can also be found in My Collection, top of the homepage, chapter Entertainment/

Thailand Entertainment duty, first issue May 18, 1939. Printed by the Royal Thai Army Survey Department. Exists in imperforate and rouletted in lines. The 1 and 5 baht values with Arabic numerals were added in 1944 during world war 2. A 3 satang yellow also exists, but only 2 copies are recorded.

These stamps range from very rare to scarce for the 25 satang and 1 baht. Originally the entertainment tax was levied on all kinds of entertainment for which spectators had to pay an entrance fee.

Later in 1944, also hotels and restaurants became subject to this tax. More on entertainment revenues in my free website www.thailandrevenues.com  See the entertainment chapter in the Thailand Revenue stamp catalog, top left on the homepage.

The first issue had 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 25 satang stamps and on 9 March 1944, a 1 and 5 baht stamp was issued. A 10 baht stamp was announced, but I believe it was never issued. In the next posts, I will show the various values on receipts. The unique receipt below is the oldest receipt known and was issued on an entertainment ticket dated 9 August 1939, some two months after the introduction of entertainment stamp. By law, tickets and stamps had to be torn upon entering the venue, this to prevent recycling the stamps. Maybe because the law was just introduced, the ticket below did escape being torn, this makes it very rare. The ticket shows the green 10 satang stamps.

The 5 satang stamps on receipt. Besides the 1939 entertainment ticket shown in my previous post, no other first series stamps are known on entertainment tickets because they had to be destroyed upon entering the entertainment venue.

Very luckily (for Thailand revenue stamp collectors), a law was passed on January 18, 1944 that required a 20% tax rate, payable via Entertainment stamps, on hotel and restaurant receipts. These receipts did not have to be destroyed, and the stamps only had to be cancelled. So, nearly all existing first series revenue stamps originate from those receipts.

A pair of 25 satang red on hotel receipt. Receipt for a 2 night hotel stay in Pitsanuloke issued October 20, 1945. The hotel room was baht 4 per night. In addition, a 1 baht (on the left) and a 10 satang green entertainment stamp. The purple 5 satang stamp on top was the newly introduced document fee.

Thailand Entertainment revenue stamps first issue used on October 23, 1947. The 2 satang stamps of the first series are very rare; most collectors of Thailand revenue stamps do not have this value. Below is a hotel receipt for 5 nights in Lampang, in the northern part of Thailand. The cost is a total of 36 baht. This receipt has 60 stamps of 2 satang in a large block. The receipt also has some stamps from the second issue, which I will show in a separate post when I discuss the second issue.

Thailand Entertainment revenue first series 3 satang yellow. The 3 satang is very rare, only 2 copies are recorded to exist and the stamp in picture 2 is the best copy of the two. The other copie sold on eBay a few years ago for $250++. The copy shown here seems to be torn out of the sheet by hand, no scissors were used. The date suggests 1943. It was placed by a previous collector on a sheet with other space fillers, Entertainment revenues. Very soon this yellow “ugly” stamp will get a special place in my own collection. I think the reason there are only two yellow stamps surviving is that the color yellow is very easily faded by the tropical climate in Thailand.

Thailand Entertainment revenues first issue 1939, the 4 and 5 satang values. I do not have any receipt with a 4 satang value, so I show in picture 1 the 4 satang value. However, I like to show an interesting receipt dated June 30, 1945, with the 5 satang stamps. Picture 2 shows a receipt for 3 nights in a hotel for a total of baht 24 or 8 baht per night. The tax was 20% or baht 4.80.

On the receipt are six stamps of 5 satang and also two stamps of 1 baht. The receipt is written on the backside of a block of fifty stamps of also 5 satang. All stamps on front and backside have the total the value of baht 4.80. The imprint on the right side in the margin reads, printed by the Royal Thai Survey Department. A very unique document.

Thailand Entertainment revenue stamps first issue 5 baht blue. On a hotel receipt dated May 1947, mixed with several second issue stamps and also General revenues to pay the 0.5% document fee of baht 1.60. This receipt was part of a series of 7 receipts for consecutive stays at the Oriental hotel, a famous luxury hotel besides the Chaopya river in Bangkok.

A block of eight of the 5-baht first issue is very rare. At this moment a single 5 baht stamps is $50+++, while the complete receipt costed $50 some 10 years ago. This is my last post on the first entertainment revenue stamp series.

Thailand Entertainment duty, second issue, November 1944 - 1949.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second series 1944-1949. Issued were the values of 4, 5, 10 and 25 satang and 1 and 10 baht. A 5 baht value was announced but was never issued due to the large available supply of the 5 baht of the first issue. The 4 satang dark blue is not known to exist as a loose stamp, only exists on the 1 document, I will show in the next post. In the years directly after the war, quality ink and paper was very scarce. Many of these revenues look like an ink smear on paper, with only the color showing the value.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second series 1944-1949. The 4 satang Blue is extremely rare and was not known to exist for a long time. Around 2001, a printing plate was found in an abandoned bank safe. A trial print with this plate is shown below and a 4 satang unknown Entertainment revenue of the second series was discovered. The printing looks not good due to the printing plate's condition.

Thailand Entertainment revenue, second issue 1944-1949. The 4 satang blue, very rare but not rare! Shortly after the discovery of the printing plate, a document was discovered dated October 23, 1947, for a hotel stay of 5 nights in Lampang in the northern part of Thailand. On the front side is a large block of the 2 satang first issue plus a block of 20 of the blue 4 satang Entertainment stamps. These blocks are glued, and the receipt is written on the backside of a complete sheet of the 4 satang blue, see the second picture below. This document is one of the greatest rarities of Thailand's revenue stamps, it is the only one known to exist, showing the 4 satang blue. So, all 120 known blue 4 satang stamps are on this one receipt making the stamp very rare but not rare.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second issue, the 5 satang red.

The 5 satang red is rare on document; however, I do have a number of used blocks.

The left top block has a part receipt glued to the backside. The receipt looks smaller than the block. It is a restaurant receipt for the Cathay restaurant.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second issue 1944-1949, the 10 satang green.

The 10 satang stamp comes in a variety of shades, some stamps are poorly printed, looking like ink smears. Any mint stamp of the second issue, like the block of 4 on the left, is rare.

Below is a hotel receipt, I believe from a hotel in ChiangMai, dated 20 August 1946. It is for a 1 night stay at a rate of 7 baht per night. The 20% Entertainment tax of baht 1.40 is paid by four stamps of 10 satang green and 1 stamp of 1 baht red. The purple 5 satang stamp is the document tax.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second issue 1944-1949, the 25 satang orange or pink

The 25 satang stamp comes in a variety of shades ranging from orange to pink. The receipt below is for a 1 night hotel stay on 23 July 1946 for a cost of 5 baht. The 20% Entertainment tax is paid by four orange colored 25 satang stamps. The 5 satang purple stamp is the document tax.

The next picture is for a dinner at the famous Oriental hotel in Bangkok on 2 July 1947.

The meal at 15-baht, service charge of baht 1.50 and a 20% tax, including on the service charge of baht 2.30. The tax was paid by two stamps of 1 baht, four pink stamps of satang 25 and three green stamps of 10 satang. Please notice that the 10 and 25 satang stamps are hardly readable, they look like ink smears.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second issue 1944-1949, the 1 baht stamps.

The left shows a mint block of 1 baht stamps, with all mint stamps of this series being rare. The block represents 15 baht, at that time a. high value.

Below a receipt for lunch at the Ratanakosin hotel in Bangkok on 24/11/1948. At that time the hotel was a luxury hotel not far from the Grand Palace.

The lunch was 10 baht, the service charge 1 baht and the 20% tax amounted to baht 2,20. this was paid by 2 stamps of 1 baht and 2 stamps green of 10 satang.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second issue 1944-1949, the 10-baht red color.

The hotel receipt from the Oriental hotel in Bangkok is for a 5-night stay from April 4-8, 1948.

The room rate was baht 60 per night for a total of baht 300. The service charge of 10% was baht 30 and the tax rate at 20% for a total tax of baht 66. this was paid by 6 red baht 10 stamps,1 blue 5 baht stamp from the first issue and in the top row a baht 1 red stamp.

it seems that the document tax was increased, there are general revenue stamps of

baht 1 blue, two stamps of 25 satang blue and two stamps of 10 satang orange red for a total of baht 1.70. This looks like a 0,2% document tax rate.

Thailand Entertainment revenues second issue 1944-1949. The Trocadero hotel.

The Trocadero hotel was frequented by Japanese officers during the war. When the entertainment tax was introduced in January 1944, the Japanese officers refused to pay this tax. To calm down the explosive situation, the Thai government decided to make the Trocadero hotel tax exempt during the war time. However, after the war, the tax-exempt status was revoked.

The receipt below is for a 6? night stay at the Trocadero hotel from 2-8 February 1948.

the Entertainment tax was paid by nineteen stamps of 10 baht red, one stamp 10 satang green and two stamps 25 satang orange. The documentary tax was baht 4.60 paid by 2 grey satang 25 stamps, two orange color 5 satang stamps and two orange 2-baht General revenue stamps.

Thailand Entertainment revenue stamps second and third issue stamps.

I have only 1 receipt with mixed issue stamps. Mixed receipts are rare. A 1 night hotel stay at the Ratanakosin hotel in Bangkok on 9 August 1949. The room rate was baht 38,50. the 20% tax rate of baht 7,70 was paid by 2 green second issue stamps, 7 pink baht 1 stamps and 2 orange satang 25 stamps.