Sent With Aloha: Rare Hawaii Postage Stamps

Everyone's a collector of some sorts, whether we realize it or not. Pokemon cards, recipes or bottle caps get stashed away somewhere in a box or get put on display in all their prized-possession glory. And for the subtle collectors, it's those music downloads or bookmarked websites saved on their computers that can easily be overlooked as a probable pastime.

There's a lot of stamps in this Hawai‘i lot. Each worth much more than what they were originally sold for.

And believe it or not, postage stamps continue to top the lists of most popular collectibles. Even if you're not a philatelist – a cool word referring to a stamp collector – you might want to consider picking up a few on your next visit to Hawai‘i. They could be worth something one day. Millions, even. Hawaiian stamps and covers (envelopes) get auctioned off all the time. In 1995, a 143-year-old letter cover sold for $1.9 million, a U.S. record at the time. And a decade later, experts claimed a group of Hawai‘i missionary stamps to be worth as much as $10 million.

I came across an interesting newspaper article while doing some background research for this blog post. The headline read: "2-cent Hawaiian stamp was once murder motive." Turns out, a Paris collector was found dead in his apartment way back in the 1800s. Detectives searched the apartment and found nothing but a 2-cent missionary stamp had been missing. This clue helped them track down the murderer. The murderer confessed to killing the Paris man because he wouldn't sell the stamp needed to complete his collection.

First postage stamp of Hawaiian Kingdom and the one that caused the murder of a collector.

That's some pretty heavy stuff. And over a stamp? It's amazing how a craze can become just that – crazy! But perhaps the fuel to this fire could be just how much history lies in the square inch postal sticky, especially in Hawai‘i. WIth the transition from a Hawaiian monarchy to the 50th U.S. state, there's a lot that can be said in a tiny illustration. The first set of stamps called "The Missionaries" came out in the 1850s and today belong to only a few lucky collectors. These were the parent lot to the stamp previously mentioned as a murder motive. Around the same time, people started putting little images of Hawaiian monarchs on their outgoing letters. The latest of the stamp printouts featured monarchs such as, King Kamehameha I, King Kamehameha III and King David Kalākaua. 

While stamp collecting isn't as big as it used to be, there are still heaps of philatelists as of late. The Hawaiian Philatelic Society meets monthly to talk stamps and bid on them. Nearly half of the members live in Hawai‘i while the others come from all over the world. They're so into it that they even issue a quarterly journal called Po‘okela O Hawai‘i. 

Check out some collectible stamps or get ones you already have appraised. An annual Hawaii All-Collectors Show happens again later this year at the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

Photo Credit: Greg Chang, Hawaii Philatelic Society

Sources: Cahill, Emmett. Illustrated History: Hawaiian Stamps. Volcano: Orchid Isle Publishers, 1987 (Photo Credit); "2-cent Hawaiian stamp was once murder motive." Star-Bulletin & Advertiser [Honolulu] 23 Feb. 1975: A-11; Ohira, Rod. "Isle letter cover delivers $1.9 million." Star-Bulletin [Honolulu] 8 Nov. 1995: A-3; "If genuine, Hawaii stamps could get $10M." Star-Bulletin [Honolulu] 19 Aug. 2006: A-6. 

Posted by Alyssa S. Navares Follow me on Twitter @Uamalie87

Published by Bruce Fisher

Since 2006 Bruce Fisher has been publishing the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast which, create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. This Blog is the only online resource providing Hawaii-based information aimed at travelers seven days per week. Postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible.

Entry Filed under: Hawaiiana

December 14th, 2011