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Pane of ten cent Confederate stamps


The post office was one of the Confederacy’s most efficiently run government departments. Under the direction of Postmaster General John H. Reagan of Texas, the postal service became not only self-sufficient, but also profitable in 1863. Part of this success came from the practice of using postage stamps as money when coins became scarce.

This nearly complete pane of ninety-six (out of one hundred) stamps, bearing the likeness of Jefferson Davis, was printed by Archer & Daly of Richmond, Virginia, in 1863. These blue ten cent stamps reflect the base rate for mailing a half-ounce letter for the first five hundred miles, with the rate doubling thereafter.

This pane of stamps was donated to the Smithsonian in 1886 and became the first object in the national philatelic collection, housed today in the National Postal Museum.


National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution

 

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