DESCRIPTION

Hawaii, 1857, 5¢ on 13¢ Dark Red (7), Type I manuscript surcharge applied by Alvah Clark (Postmaster Jackson's clerk), three ample to large margins, just slightly in at bottom, used with horizontal pair of 1¢ Blue, Type II (7), Plate 2, mostly large margins, and 10¢ Green, Type III (15), large even margins, all stamps remained uncancelled in Hawaii where red "Honolulu * U.S. Postage Paid * Mar. 11" (1857) circular datestamp was applied on cover to Mrs. H. W. McCoughtey in New Bedford, Massachusetts, carried on the bark Yankee, departing Honolulu March 11, 1857, and arriving in San Francisco April 3--after arriving in San Francisco the stamps were cancelled and tied by two strikes of "San Francisco Cal. 6 Apr." circular datestamp; from San Francisco to Panama on Pacific Mail Steamship Company John L. Stephens, departing April 6 and arriving April 19; crossed the isthmus to Aspinwall and carried to New York on U.S. Mail Steamship Company Illinois, departing April 20 and arriving April 29#

PROVENANCE

John F. Seybold, J. C. Morgenthau sale, 3/15-16/1910, lot 509

F. Spiegelberg, J. C. Morgenthau sale, 1/10/1911, lot 362

Alfred H. Caspary, H. R. Harmer sale, 10/8/1957, lot 52, to Krug

Emmerson C. Krug (sold privately by Siegel to Middendorf)

Hon. J. William Middendorf II, Siegel Auction Galleries, 4/25/1967, Sale 316, lot 84, to Rust

Philip G. Rust, Siegel Auction Galleries, 1987 Rarities of the World, 5/2/1987, Sale 679, lot 427, to Ishikawa

Ryohei Ishikawa, Christie's Robson Lowe sale, 9/28-29/1993, lot 90, to Guido Craveri (for Giamporcaro)

Tito Giamporcaro, Spink sale, 4/20/1999, lot 110, to Hackmey

Joseph Hackmey (collection sold privately to William H. Gross, 2010)

CENSUS, LITERATURE AND EXHIBITION REFERENCES

Fred Gregory, Hawaii Foreign Mail to 1870, Volume III, p. 54, census no. 5 (Meyer-Harris no. 2)

CERTIFICATION

Signed by Stanley B. Ashbrook (October 15, 1957)

The Philatelic Foundation (1999) notes "stamps with tiny flaws"

CONDITION NOTES

Very Fine overall appearance; 10¢ small tear at top right, stamps have small surface scrapes, small scuff in cover at top left

"John F. Seybold, Syracuse, N.Y." purple backstamp

HISTORY AND COMMENTARY

An Extraordinary Combination of Stamps from Paradise

The Hawaiian 5¢ provisional surcharge was created in 1857 during a shortage of 5¢ stamps just after the transition from Honolulu postmaster Henry M. Whitney to Joseph Jackson. The April 1855 increase in the U.S. transcontinental rate from 6¢ to 10¢ made the Hawaii 13¢ Kamehameha III stamp obsolete, since it was based on a composite rate of 5¢ Hawaiian, 6¢ U.S. and the 2¢ ship captain's fee. When the supply of 5¢ stamps was exhausted, 13¢ sheets were changed to a 5¢ denomination by writing the numeral "5" on each stamp. Most were made by Jackson's clerk, Alvah Clark, around the start of 1857. New supplies of the 5¢ stamp were received from Boston at the end of June 1857.

Fred Gregory's census in Hawaii Foreign Mail to 1870 lists 18 covers with the 5¢ on 13¢ surcharge. Three were carried on the same trip of the Yankee from Honolulu on March 11, 1857. Only two have this combination of imperforate stamps. There is a third cover with the same denominations, but the 1¢ pair is perforated. The mixed franking paid the 5¢ Hawaii and 10¢ U.S. postage, plus the 2¢ ship fee. This cover is addressed to Mrs. H. W. McCoughtey in New Bedford, Massachusetts. McCoughtey's name and title as Registrar of Public Accounts appears in ads placed by the Hawaiian Minister of Finance's office in the Polynesian (starting 11/2/1859).

The first collector known to have owned this cover was John F. Seybold, a pioneering collector of covers. In 1909 Seybold committed suicide, and his collection was bought from the estate by John T. Coit and the prominent New York dealer, J. C. Morgenthau, who put the collection into three auctions between March and April 1910. This cover was sold in the first Seybold auction on March 15-16, 1910. It reappeared in the 1911 Morgenthau sale of the Spiegelberg collection and then 46 years later in the Alfred H. Caspary sale, where it was bought by Ezra D. Cole for Emmerson C. Krug. Robert Siegel sold the Krug Hawaii collection privately, and the cover passed to the Hon. J. William Middendorf II, whose Hawaii collection was offered anonymously in Siegel Sale 316 (April 1967). The cover was acquired by Philip G. Rust and later appeared in the 1987 Rarities of the World sale, where it was bought by Ryohei Ishikawa. From Ishikawa it passed to Guido Craveri, Tito Giamporcaro and Joseph Hackmey. The Hackmey collection was purchased privately by William H. Gross in 2010.

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