1866 Check Without Revenue Stamp

A nice Reconstruction-era check arrived in today's mail. I'm a big fan of American Bank Note Co. vignettes and since this one has three, it was irresistible.

I'm wondering if this is actually a somewhat different fiscal document than a check, as it was issued by the state government to a school district. It has no 2¢ revenue as you'd expect on a commercial check. Can anyone offer a little more information?

This appears to be an order to pay rather then a check. Since it is coming from the Pennsylvania treasurer as an official document to pay the treasurer of a school district an appropriation it was not taxed. If it had been an order to pay for someone doing repairs or other work then it would have been taxed at the inland exchange rate rather then the check rate.

Thank you! I've never heard of an order to pay. Another type of fiscal document to add to the list.

If you have a serious interest in first issue revenue documents then I seriously recommend getting both of Mike Mahler's books on the subject; United States Civil War Revenue Stamp Taxes, and A Catalog of United States Revenue-Stamped Documents of the Civil War Era by Type and Tax Rate.