5-cent blue Jefferson Davis - "London Print"
(Scott CSA #6)

The stamp's central motif is a portrait of Jefferson Davis, designed and engraved by Jean Ferdinand Joubert De La Ferte. There were 12,000,000 stamps printed from one four hundred-subject electrotype plate. They were delivered in half sheets of two hundred, two panes of one hundred each, divided by a vertical gutter, and there was no imprint. Plating is unnecessary as complete panes still remain. The stamps were printed on thin, white wove, hard-surface paper with colorless gum, and were imperforate. The color ranges from light blue to blue, and the impressions are clear and distinct. The earliest recorded date of use is April 16, 1862. The most typical use is of pairs paying the ten-cent letter rate after July 1, 1862; less frequently seen is for the five-cent rate (under 500 miles) before the rate changed.

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