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The Hawaiian Missionaries |
 An Act establishing a postal service was passed by the Hawaiian Assembly as early as 1846, but nothing was done to implement this until 1850 when a subsequent Act laid down an external postal rate of 10 cents per letter (reduced the following year to 5c on the introduction of adhesive stamps).
The post office established in September 1851 wasn’t under government control but was farmed out to Henry M. Whitney, a printer and stationer of Honolulu who published a newspaper, The Commercial Advertiser. It isn’t known whether the first stamps were printed there, or at the office of the government paper, The Polynesian. The stamps were type-set and printed in September 1851, being placed on sale the following month.
The Polynesian of October 4 mentioned the three denominations of 2c, 5c and 13c. The lowest value prepaid the newspaper rate while the 5c represented the letter rate. The 13c stamp denoted the payment of three separate fees – 5c Hawaiian postage, 6c United States postage, and a 2c ship letter fee for conveying the letter from Hawaii to America. All three stamps were inscribed in upper and lower case lettering ‘Hawaiian Postage’, though the 13c was re-issued in 1852 with the inscription amended to ‘H.I. & U.S. Postage’.
Because the majority of the known examples of these stamps were discovered on correspondence from US missionaries they acquired the nickname of the ‘Missionaries’. These stamps are all major rarities, especially the 2c denomination for which there was little use, since the inland service which it was intended to represent didn’t materialise until eight years later. In any case, most 2c stamps, if used on newspaper wrappers, would have been torn and discarded when the wrapper was removed.
The stamps were printed in blue ink on extremely thin, brittle paper and thus few of the Missionaries are in perfect condition. They continued in use until 1853 when they were superseded by intaglio designs printed by Holland of Boston.
Celebratory issue
On October 24, 2002 the US Postal Service issued a miniature sheet bearing a strip of four 37c stamps, each of which reproduces one of the Missionaries including the two versions of the 13c. The sheet margins reproduce one of the most celebrated of all the entire letters, the cover addressed to Miss Eliza A. Dawson of New York, bearing the 2c and 5c Hawaiian stamps, but having the US postage paid by means of a pair of the US 3c Washington stamps. The Hawaiian stamps bear the red Honolulu postmark while the US pair were cancelled at San Francisco before the letter made the journey overland to New York.
This cover was rescued from a bonfire in 1903 when a load of waste paper was being incinerated. It was subsequently taken to a dealer who recognised its rarity and sold it to G.H. Worthington for $6,000. When the Worthington collection was sold in 1917 this realised only $6,100. It was later acquired by Alfred Caspary and when Harmers disposed of his collection in 1957 it made $25,000. A dozen years later it fetched $120,000 at the Ostheimer sale, and in 1995 was sold in New York by Siegel for a cool $2,090,000 million to a private collector, Geoffrey Brewster.
Only 28 covers bearing the Missionary stamps are known to exist, but the Dawson cover is the only one to bear the 2 cent stamp. There is also a piece bearing the 2c and 13c (first type) side-by-side. From the surviving fragment of the cover it appears to have been addressed to a Miss A… and the stamps are tied by the red San Francisco postmark of March 15, 1851. In the same 1995 auction this piece was knocked down to the US National Postal Museum for $99,000. A baker’s dozen of used 2c stamps are known off paper, including one in the Tapling Collection at the British Library in London. |
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Tales by Mail - Book 1, by Karen Cartier
 Tales by Mail is for children of all ages, perhaps up through 60 or so. It brings together stories literally from around the world ... from Botswana to Denmark, from New Zealand to the Faroes, from Saar to Israel.
The stories are short, each with a message, and each illustrated by a stamp issued by the country of the story's origin. Each who reads this book no doubt will develop a different favorite story, which is to be expected. Formatted simply, each story is preceded by a full-color illustration of the commemorative stamp that no only is impressive in its own right but also serves through its design to set the stage for the story that follows.
For those who wonder of the relationship between a stamp design and what is "behind" the design, this book serves as an excellent example.
Teddy Bears Celebrate 100th Anniversary
 Teddy bears, enormously popular symbols of human caring and loving, are being honored by the U.S. Postal Service with the issuance of the Teddy Bears commemorative stamps. The 2002 issuance of the stamps coincides with the 100th anniversary of teddy bears.
The Teddy Bears pane of 20 self-adhesive stamps depicts four lovable, cuddly teddy bears. Photos of the bears appear in the header; details of the photos appear on the stamps. The four stamp designs are repeated five times each on the pane. All four teddy bears were manufactured in the United States and are now owned by private collectors. The Ideal bear dates to circa 1905, the Bruin bear from circa 1907 and the Gund bear from circa 1948. The unlabeled "stick" bear dates from the 1920s. Mass- produced stick bears were characterized by their short arms, thin legs and upright posture. The Ideal bear, the Bruin bear and the stick bear belong to Paul and Rosemary Volpp of Carson City, Nev. The Gund bear belongs to Helen Sieverling of Pasadena, Calif.
The idea of the teddy bear was born in 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a captive bear during a hunting trip. Washington Post cartoonist Clifford Berryman depicted the incident on the front page of the newspaper, and soon toymakers began to manufacture the "teddy" bears associated with the president's name. People in all walks of life love teddy bears, and enthusiasts—known in the teddy bear world as arctophiles—pay top dollar for the collectibles.
Today there are teddy bear magazines, clubs, collector shows and programs, both educational and medical, that feature these little stuffed companions. Teddy bears have had endless books, songs and poem written about them. Widely viewed as symbols of security and comfort, teddy bears are often used by police officers and hospital staff to calm the young and old alike in traumatic situations
Second Set Of Penguin Stamps
 British Antarctic Territory has issued its second set of penguin stamps on a miniature sheet and in a booklet from the Port Lockroy Post Office.
The 12 airmail postcard values feature photographs of Chinstrap, Emperor, Adelie, Gentoo and Macaroni penguins, including juveniles.
All the photographs were taken by members of the British Antarctic Survey.
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