10-cent blue Jefferson Davis - Type II
(Scott CSA #12)

Pick a color - any color - these issues are ripe for shade comparison studiesl

Frederick Halpin designed and engraved the stamp's central motif, a portrait of Jefferson Davis. The engraving was then transferred to steel printing plates. They are very similar in design to Type I, distinguished most easily by the filled-in corners, outer scrolls, and the presence of a light outer line framing the entire design. There were approximately 23,800,000 stamps printed from two plates, each with two panes of one hundred. There were numerous imprint varieties of “Archer & Daly, Bank Note Engravers, Richmond, Va.” The inscription was altered over the life of the plates. "Daly" was removed first, and later the entire imprint was removed. Full sheets of two hundred and panes of one hundred are known. The earliest recorded date of use is May 1, 1863. Colors vary from blue to light blue, opaline blue (often called milky blue), dark blue, greenish blue, green. The most typical use was to pay the ten-cent letter rate. An unknown number of sheets were perforated in gauge 12 1/2. This perforation experiment proved impractical, but the perforated stamps were released for use. The plates for the Archer & Daly stamps were transferred to Columbia, South Carolina, when the fall of Richmond became inevitable in late 1864, and the stamps were then printed by the company of Keatinge & Ball.

There were approximately 7,500,000 stamps printed from two plates, each with two panes of one hundred. The imprint is “Keatinge & Ball, Bank Note Engravers, Columbia, S.C.”; Plates 3 and 4. Full sheets of two hundred are known. The earliest recorded date of use is September 4, 1864. Colors vary from blue to deep blue and dull blue. Print varieties include chilled and overheated plates. The most typical use was to pay the ten-cent letter rate.

Note the engraved lines in the background of the portrait, a sign of the Archer and Daly printing, versus the filled in solid look of the Keatinge and Ball printings. Greenish blue is often mistaken for the true green shade which is the bottom left example.

See the treatise in the Trouble Spots section of the Confederate Stamp Primer Online on How to tell Type I from Type II.

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