Sale 1244 — The Arthur S. Przybyl Collection of United States, Confederate States and Hawaii
Sale Date — Tuesday-Wednesday, 9-10 November, 2021
Category — Hawaii, including Missionary Stamps
HAWAII, 1853, 5c Blue, Thick White Wove (5). Horizontal pair, close margins clearing framelines in places, tiny scissors-cut at top between stamps, uncancelled at Honolulu, clearly struck red “Honolulu * U.S. Postage Paid * Sept. 4” (1856) circular datestamp, used with horizontal pair of United States 1851 12c Black (17), margins clear to touching framelines, tied by “San Francisco Cal. 6 Oct.” circular datestamp on light buff cover to Mrs. Ann B. Archer at Port Gibson, Mississippi, red pencil “32c” crossed out, some minor spots of wear at edgesVERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED COVER BEARING A PAIR OR ANY MULTIPLE OF THE 1853 5-CENT KAMEHAMEHA III FIRST PRINTING. AN OUTSTANDING UNITED STATES AND HAWAII MIXED-FRANKING COVER.
This cover comes from the Archer correspondence, which includes the unique Missionary/Kamehameha mixed franking from our Honolulu Advertiser sale (now part of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum collection). The small red pencil “32c”, a Hawaiian post office notation, accurately reflects the necessary postage for a double-rate letter (2 x 5c Hawaiian and 2 x 10c U.S. plus the 2c ship captain’s fee). The pair of U.S. 12c 1851 stamps involved a 2c overpayment, but overpayments were not unusual.
This cover was carried on the American bark Yankee, which cleared Honolulu on September 4, 1856, and arrived in San Francisco on September 21. It was carried by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s Golden Gate, departing on October 6 and arriving at Panama City on October 20. The mail was carried across the isthmus to Aspinwall, and from there it probably caught the October 20 sailing of the U.S. Mail Steamship Company’s George Law, which arrived in New York on October 30. The George Law was renamed Central America in 1857, the year that she sank in a hurricane, claiming hundreds of lives and tons of gold.
Ex Gibson, Admiral Harris, Ostheimer, Honolulu Advertiser, “Sevenoaks” and Gross. Weill backstamp. Illustrated and discussed in Meyer-Harris (pages 36-37)
