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.
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