CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

In 1996, I wrote a pamphlet titled "Introduction to Confederate States Stamps and Postal History" to help collectors get started in the field. My thanks to John Hotchner for giving my little pamphlet an excellent review in the Philatelic Exhibitor magazine in early 1997. Since then, the pamphlet has been rewritten into an illustrated magazine article which appeared in the January 1999 issue of Scott's Stamp Monthly. Presented here is the full article with illustrations. This article is aimed specifically at the beginning CSA Collector, but even the most advanced collector may find it to be useful. Just click on the title to bring up the document and feel free to print it out (9-10 pages depending on your browser) for later use.

The Collector's Guide to Confederate Philately Color Companion volume to the original Guidebook was published in 2003.

These two books were phenomenally successful and are now sold out and out-of-print. But they can still be obtained occasionally on the secondary market.

Included with the images are all the pertinent facts about each stamp. These "Stamp Facts" are courtesy of Conrad L. Bush. The "Stamp Facts" (#1, #2, #3, #11, #12, #14) were recently updated (10 DEC 2001) with regard to the largest known unused multiples using information contained in the Robert A. Siegel Auction Catalog for Sale #840 (The Hall Collection Confederate States). The large multiples that were part of this collection had not been seen in many years and in some cases were not known to exist until the collection was made available for sale.

Just click on the Scott Number to bring up the images with the "Stamp Facts" and use the back button to return to this page. These "Stamp Facts" can also be accessed within the "Introduction" article above. Please be advised that these scans (especially of the rare strips) are the property of myself and Conrad L. Bush and are not to be downloaded and used without our permission.

Listed below are twelve articles which I wrote. I hope they will be of interest to both beginning and advanced CSA Collectors.

1. -- CSA Stamp Printing Methods and a Short History
   We have prepared thanks to the research of Conrad Bush a summary of the three methods used to print the Confederate stamps (Stone Lithography, Typography, Intaglio) with a short history of how these stamps were created.

2. -- "Seguin, Texas, June 4, 1865: Latest Known Legitimate Confederate Postal Usage"
   The May-Jun 1995 issue of the Confederate Philatelist journal contains an article that I wrote concerning the discovery of a Texas cover holding the distinction of being the latest known Confederate cover. (Update 5/4/2008 -- as of this date, this cover still holds that distinction as to my knowledge a cover dated later than 6/4/1865 with CSA postal usage from Texas or anywhere else has not as yet been confirmed -- JLK.)

3. -- "A Prisoner's Story"
   The Jan-Feb 1997 issue of the Confederate Philatelist journal contains an article that I wrote concerning an important new find of a CSA POW Correspondence between a prisoner at Fort Delaware and his wife in Hillsville, Va. The photos of seven of the covers originally published with the article are now available for viewing on-line within the document. The correspondence was shown as a one-frame exhibit at the Confederate Stamp Alliance (CSA) Annual Convention at ROMPEX '97 and was the winner of the CSA "Trustee's Trophy" award.

4. -- "A Prisoner's Story Revisited"
   Since "A Prisoner's Story" was initially published in early 1997, four additional covers in the Smith POW Correspondence have been discovered. This followup article with pictures of the four newly discovered covers was published in the Mar-Apr 1999 issue of the Confederate Philatelist.

5. -- "Through-The Lines West Tennessee to North Carolina"
   How important is it to keep the original letters with the CSA Covers and not separate the two? Read this report written only for this website and find out. The letter by documenting details of the cover's usage turns a very ordinary looking cover into one of significance.

6. -- "A Strange Premonition"
   This article which I wrote appears in the Nov-Dec 2000 issue of the Confederate Philatelist. It tells the story of a premature announcement of Gen Patrick Cleburne's death found in a newspaper clipping within a Mobile, Ala CSA cover dated 19 SEP 1864.

7. -- "New Earliest Known Usage for the 5c Blue Lithograph Stone 2"
   Another article which I wrote reports on a new discovery earliest known usage (EKU) for the CSA #4 Stone 2 stamp and appeared in the Mar-Apr 2003 issue of the Confederate Philatelist.

8. --"Transatlantic CSA Patriotic Covers"
   In 2003 and in 2006, two covers were discovered which traveled from Georgia to England in the Spring of 1861 and which are currently the only known examples of Confederate Patriotic Covers used in the Confederate Period to a foreign country. Read about this important find in an article I wrote which appeared in the July-September 2006 issue of the Confederate Philatelist.

9. --"Jefferson Davis Death Mask Cover"
   This well known unique item of CSA Postal History was first noted in 1946. August Dietz included it in his 1959 Catalog and it also appears in the 1986 New Dietz Catalog as "A Prounouced Freak." Read the story behind this exceptional cover which appeared in the Apr-Jun 2008 issue of the Confederate Philatelist.

10. --"Confederate Missouri"
    Read the story behind a very scarce cover of Confederate Missouri Military Postal History from a soldier in the 16th Missouri Infantry Confederate to another soldier in the 2nd Texas Cavalry Partison Rangers. This article appeared in the Apr-Jun 2009 issue of the Confederate Philatelist.
11. --"The General Issue Stamps of the Confederate States of America"
This article appeared in the October 2011 issue of the British philatelic magazine Stanley Gibbons Monthly and gives a capsule history of each of the CSA General Issue Stamps. This article is in .pdf format and requires Adobe Acrobat to open and read.

12. --"Civilian Through-the-Lines Mail Accepted and Rejected -- An Overview"
This first part of this article appeared in the Oct-Dec 2011 issue of the Confederate Philatelist. Read the complete article here. This article is in .pdf format and requires Adobe Acrobat to open and read.