1862 Ten Cents Davis Confederate Stamp

I'm having difficulty finding a lot of information on this 10 cent stamp, especially in this color. I'm guessing this is some sort of reprint or perhaps a forgery … I just assumed that a forged copy would try and replicate a more common color as opposed to something unusual, but I'm really not sure.

Any help and/or insight on would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,

Hello, and welcome to the forum
The short answer is, yes, that is a reprint from an unused plate, what is called an Altered Plate. Here's a version fo the story from another of my posts:
'Those are what are called Altered Plates. The original 5¢ stamp and a 1¢ picturing John C. Calhoun (#6,7 and 14, which was never issued) were designed and printed by De La Rue in London in 1862. By the next year it was necessary to raise the postal rate, so the Confederate Posties asked De La Rue to come up with a new set. As time was of the essence, it was decided to simply alter the plates (hence the name) from 1 to 2¢ and 5 to 10¢ respectively.
The plates were sent back to Richmond but were never used. Could be delivery was too slow (no Fedex). I have read a story where Mrs Davis disapproved of the portrait on these stamps because she though it made her husband look too much like that Lincoln guy. I've read of rumours during the war that Lincoln and Davis were actually related, simply because there was a slight physical resemblance.
So other stamps were designed (CSA#8 and #9) and the altered plates were filed away.'

So there it is.

The unused plates were rediscovered in the 1920s by August Dietz, considered to be the 'Father of Confederate Philately'. Dietz printed the new 2¢ stamp in emerald green. Here's my copy of the emerald green Calhoun from my collection.
Both plates were reprinted a number of times over the years after Mr Dietz's discovery. With varying degrees of quality.

Thank you so very much for your help and insight! Very much appreciated, and equally as interesting!

May I ask … Do these have any value, or nothing more than a novelty item?

nope, no real cash value. The green Dietz prints might be a few bucks (can't remember what I paid for mine) but the others, nothing really, other than examples to include with your CSA collection.

I bought the two stamps shown below from my local stamp shop for five cents each earlier this year. He has a bunch of large plastic tubs of stamps at a nickel each. They came in the glassine envelope, also shown below. The story as told on the glassine did not make sense, but I guess an embellished story sold more stamps, for more money, back in the day. Kind of shady, if you ask me.

For more info on these stamps, and the real story, see this link:

http://www.jlkstamps.com/qa/qa6.htm



Peace be with you,
Linus