The   first  provisional Giro  stamps issued by  the U.S. Military Government consisted of  the twenty-one  denominations of  the claret  issue of 1898 (1897?) to  which the above described  initials were  affixed. The  initials CHS were  applied to all  denominations.  Dr. James  C. Perry,  writing   in 1903, stated  that the  initials CSH  and  CFM were also applied to all denominations. [85]   But Mr. A.B. Kay, in 1915, listed  only the following denominations as bearing the initials CSH and CFM, respectively. With the  initials CSH: 5c, 15c,   20c, 30c, 60c, 80c, 1.20p, 1.40p, 1.80p, 2p, 3p, 4p, 6p, 7p and 8p.  With the initials  CFM: 5c, 20c, 60c, 80c, 1.20p, 1.40p, 2p, 4p, 5p, 6p, 8p and 10p. Mr. Kay  stated  that he listed only these varieties which he had  seen,  but he  believed  that  there  might be others which  he  had not   seen. [86]  The  writer  purchased Dr. Perry's collection of these revenue  stamps  few years ago from  the late  Mr. Newton C. Confort. This  collection did not   include  all  denominations with the initials CSH  and CFM.  So, it seems probable that  Dr.  Perry  himself  had not  seen these  initials  on  all  of   the  denominations  which he listed. The greater part of  the work of initiating the stamps was evidently done by Lieutenant Sleeper, because the initials CHS  occur much more frequently than CSH  or  CFM. And  it  is quite possible that there were  some denominations to which neither Lieutenant Haughwout nor Captain Mudgett ever affixed their initials.

The  second  provisional   issue by  the  U.S.  Military Government consisted of Spanish-Philippine Giro  stamps of  the claret issue of 1898 (1897?) handstamped in blue U.S. INTERNAL REVENUE  in three  lines. Both Forbin and Dr. Perry  list these stamps as issued in 1898.  Dr. Perry's  information concerning this issue was very  incomplete, however, and he listed only two denominations,  20c and  2.40p, as having been surcharged U.S. INTERNAL REVENUE.  Dr. Perry is undoubtedly correct, however, in stating that very few stamps were treated with this surcharge. Forbin, in 1915, listed the following denominations as surcharged U.S. INTERNAL REVENUE: 5c, 20c, 30c, 80c, 1.40p  and 2.40p. The  60  centimos with this  surcharge was not listed by Mr. Kay  and the writer has not seen  a specimen of the 80-centimos with this surcharge. The writer  has  seen each of the other five  denominations  listed  by For bin, but all of them are rare. The writer believes  that the  stamps bearing this surcharge  probably did not appear until February or March, 1899.  Exactly the same surcharge was applied to Timbre Movil Especial stamps of four denominations and to the  25-centimos imperforate SELLO stamps of 1898 at least as early as March, and  possibly in February,1899. Both Timbre Movil (Receipt) and SELLO stamps were extensively used on customs documents. The writer has seen  a considerable number of original  customs  documents which were  issued during  the period  from August  20, 1898,  until the end  of January, 1899.  All  such documents bear only stamps which are surcharged  with handwritten  initials.  Dr.  Perry wrote  in 1903 concerning  the stamps surcharged with handwritten initials: "These  provisionals were used exclusively from August 20, 1898 to January, 1899, when the first regular issue of  new design was printed and became available for revenue  purposes.  However, these  provisional  stamps were in use during  1899, as late  as June, and may be  found  on documents  of  even  a later date, since these, as well as all other revenue stamps, are, according to law, available for use on documents irrespective of  the year of   issue;  consequently,  all  the stock of  provisionals  on hand were used until  the  supply became  exhausted. There were no remainders." [87]

The writer, therefore, believes that the handstamp U.S. INTERNAL REVENUE were not used earlier than February 1899.  No documents  issued  during  the month of February, 1899, have been seen;  but there are numerous specimens of this surcharge on Timbre Movil   (Receipt)  stamps which  bear cancellations  of  March, 1899.  The few used specimens which the writer  has seen of  this surcharge on  the 25 centimos  SELLO stamp and on Giro  stamps  all  bear cancellations of  March and  April, 1899.  Dr. Perry, writing  in 1903, stated  that a new issue of  both SELLO and GIRO  stamps was printed  and  became  available  for use in January,1899.  He also indicated that the INTERNAL REVENUE  stamps which were printed to replace  the  Timbre Movil Especial stamps, became available during  1899 as follows:  the  2c. and  the 10c. denominations in May; and the 1c and 5c denominations in July. These  dates  of issue are  confirmed  by cancellations on  specimens of the  stamps  found   in  Dr.  Perry's  collection and  by original  documents bearing   these and other   stamps. The  writer,   therefore,  concludes  that the  handstamp U.S. INTERNAL  REVENUE was applied  to the remaining  stock of Timbre Movil Especial stamps in February or March, 1899, because the new INTERNAL REVENUE  stamps were not yet available. He also concludes that at the  same  time the same  surcharge was also applied to the very small  remaining  stock of  Spanish -Philippine Giro  stamps  and  the 25-centimos  SELLO stamps of  1898, in order to make those small  remainders available for  use. [85]

The first series of  GIRO  stamps to  be printed  after the American occupation of  Manila was  lithographed  in Manila and  issued, according to Dr. Perry in January,  1899. These stamps were of the same size and denominations  as  the Spanish-Philippines Giro  stamps of 1898,  but were  labeled: - GIRO  -   INTERNAL REVENUE  -  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS  - 1899.  The mixture of  Spanish and  English in the labels is characteristic of  the transition period  from August,  1898,  until  about the  end of 1904. The design was crudely  drawn, the lines, letters and figures being more or   less irregular much more so in some specimens than in others.  With  the exception of the   labels, the  design  is the same for all denominations.

The numerous  variations  in details  of   the  design of  various  specimens of  these stamps attracted  the attention of collector very soon after the stamps  appeared.  It was suspected  that  some  of  the  varieties  might  be forgeries.  But  Mr. A.B. Kay, in an article published in  the  Bulletin of  the Fiscal  Philatelic Society   (London)  for January,  1915,  stated that suspected  specimens  had been sent to Manila for  examination and were pronounced genuine  by the  Philippine authorities. Mr. Kay  described nine variants  in design which  he  considered  sufficiently distinct  to  be classified  as  separate types of   design. In the   Catalogue  which follows the writer has  listed two   additional variants as  separate  types, making eleven  in all.  There  are  also many minor variations within each group which is classified as a single type.