Hawaiian Missionaries

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The unique Dawson envelope with two different Missionaries values
Two cents copy

Hawaiian Missionaries are the first postage stamps from what was then the Kingdom of Hawai'i . They appeared in 1851 and are available in two, five and thirteen cents values. The term missionaries (German: Missionare ) is used for them because the pieces known today mostly come from the correspondence of the missionaries of those islands at the time. There is only a small number of surviving pieces, so they are among the great rarities in philately . There is a rumor that one of these brands has been murdered out of greed, but this story is very likely just a made-up legend.

In 1920, 43 more stamps, the so-called Grinnell Missionaries, were discovered, the authenticity of which, however, has not yet been clarified beyond doubt. These are specimens that were initially bought by a Mr. Grinnell and therefore bear this name.

literature

  • The Hawaii death stamp or the "Spider in the Yucca Palm". In: philately. Issue No. 406, April 2011, pp. 49–52.
  • Legendary "missionaries" and a unique collection. In: philately. Issue No. 292, July / August 2001, p. 46 ff.
  • Murder out of philatelic passion. In: German newspaper for postage stamps. No. 24/1958, p. 1555 f.
  • mint. The Postage Stamp Journal of Deutsche Post AG, September / October 2011, p. 34 f.
  • LN Williams: Encyclopaedia of Rare and Famous Stamps. Volume 1: The Stories. David Feldman Publishing House, Geneva 1993, ISBN 0-89192-435-3 , pp. 117 ff.
  • AR Kassel: Hawaiian missionaries. North Charleston, SC, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4611-5756-4 .
  • Hawaii's Death Stamp - New Findings in a Mysterious Murder Case. In: Philatelic Journalist. (of the AIJP) Issue No. 140 from March 2013, pp. 31–33.
  • The Grinnell Missionary Stamps. Royal Philatelic Society London, 2006.
  • The missionaries of Hawaii. In: Julius Kaufmann: Twelve famous postage stamps. Self-published, Tel Aviv 1960, pp. 123-134