Honolulu, Hawaiian Is./Nov. 7, 1850. Bold strike of two-line handstamp on blue folded letter datelined "Wahoo October 25th 1850" and addressed to Mr. John H. Jones in Cold Spring, New York, light strike of orange-red "San Francisco 40 15 Dec." integral-rate circular datestamp, receipt docketing of Jan. 25, 1851, minor edgewear

VERY FINE. ONLY NINE EXAMPLES OF THE HONOLULU STRAIGHTLINE POSTMARK ARE RECORDED STRUCK IN BLUE. THIS IS A NEWLY-DISCOVERED EXAMPLE. A GREAT RARITY.

This cover was carried on the bark Spartacus, which departed Honolulu November 7, 1850, and arrived in San Francisco on December 10. It was carried to Panama on the California, which departed on December 15 and arrived on January 3, 1851. After crossing the Isthmus by mule and riverboat, it left Chagres on the Falcon, which departed on January 12 or 13 and arrived in New York on January 24 after a stop at Havana.

Fred Gregory records a total of 35 examples of this straightline marking. Of these, the first nine are struck in blue, including one other with the same markings and sent on the same ships as the example offered here. The change from blue to black seems to have occurred after December 7, 1850.

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