unused single, four full margins, without gum, very fine, the unique unused example of the New Orleans 5c Red error of color, of which just six or seven are recorded (on either white or blue paper), this stamp is the only true error for color in all of Confederate States philately, widely considered to be one of the most important Confederate Provisionals in existence
A thorough discussion of the New Orleans Provisionals was published by Hubert C. Skinner in the 1978 44th American Philatelic Congress Book. With regards to the 5c Red error of color, he writes:
These are among the rarest of all Confederate postmasters' provisionals with only five copies known to exist, three on white wove paper, and two on bluish paper. It has been suggested that they are an error of color, but their rarity would indicate that very few were printed in red, and the existence of impressions on two different papers indicates that the "error" happened twice. It seems much more likely that either too much red was introduced onto the platen in blending the brown inks or the components of the ink separated while the press was idle for a time, producing a mottled impression on a very few sheets, a condition which would have been corrected as soon as the rollers passed across the platen a few times re-mixing or blending the ink. Further, one copy of the five cent red upon close examination reveals that there are a few tiny areas of the design printed in the normal brown color though the majority of the impression is unquestionably printed in red ink. This fact lends support to the mottled inking explanation. Whatever their origin may be, these are fascinating and most desirable rarities.
Since this article, an example of the 5c stamp (ex-D.K. Collection) has been identified which shows a hybrid red-brown color, proving Skinner's hypothesis to be correct.
Provenance: Philipp von Ferrary (Gilbert Sale 4, 1922)
Arthur Hind (Charles J. Philips Sale 1, 1933)
Harold C. Brooks (Laurence & Stryker, 1943)