English: Hawaiian Missionary 2c and 13c stamps on piece.

""Hawaiian Postage" (3). 2c Type II (right-hand position in form), 13c Type I (left-hand position in form), used together on piece from upper left corner of a brown envelope with a few letters of address: "Miss. A[...]/Car[e of...]"; tied by vivid red sponge or "sugar cane" cancel of Honolulu, red "San Francisco Cal. 15 Mar." circular datestamp with "CAL." in upper case letters; the piece has been severed horizontally below stamps and rejoined, the 2c has been extensively restored and repainted, the 13c less so

APART FROM THE UNIQUE COVER, THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED USAGE OF THE HAWAIIAN 2-CENT MISSIONARY ON A PIECE OF MAIL AND THE ONLY RECORDED 2-CENT WITH THE RED FANCY CANCEL. IT IS ALSO THE ONLY RECORDED 13-CENT "HAWAIIAN POSTAGE" STAMP USED IN COMBINATION WITH ANOTHER MISSIONARY

Assuming the stamps on this piece represent the entire Hawaiian franking, the only logical rate that 15c could prepay is the triple 5c Hawaiian postage. Another triple-rate Missionary usage is the strip of three 13c "Hawaiian Postage" Missionary on a partially charred cover from the Dawson correspondence (Honolulu Advertiser sale, lot 29).

The stamps on both the piece and the Dawson cover are cancelled by the amorphous red blob that appears on some of the known Missionary stamps. This cancel, unique to the Hawaiian post office, has previously been identified as the Honolulu "Sunburst", but its true nature was unrecognized. Specialists now believe it was made with the cut end of sugar cane or a sponge.

There is an interesting relationship between the Missionary piece offered here and the Dawson cover in the Honolulu Advertiser sale (lot 29). This piece bears the San Francisco datestamp of March 15 -- although no year-date is present, it is almost certainly 1852. The charred Dawson cover has part of a faint red San Francisco datestamp at lower left and a clearly struck Honolulu February 20 datestamp, which is an 1852 year-date. The two pieces of mail were probably postmarked in Honolulu on the same day or very close to one another. The Honolulu February 20 date ties in with three 1852 sailing departure dates: the Maid of Julpha (cleared Feb. 24, arrived Mar. 22), the Eagle (cleared Feb. 25, arrived Mar. 26), and the Noble (cleared Feb. 25, arrived Mar. 16) [Gregory]. Apart from these two dated pieces, there are eleven off-cover Missionaries with the sponge or "sugar cane" cancel, all 13c "Hawaiian Postage" stamps (see Honolulu Advertiser catalogue, Appendix I), indicating that its use pre-dated the 13c "H.I. & U.S. Postage" issue of April 1852 and that it was not used on 5c rate covers at all.

The history of this unique piece can be traced back to Henry J. Duveen, whose collection was sold privately through Charles J. Phillips from 1922 to 1926. After the Duveen dispersal the piece found its way into Alfred H. Caspary's collection. Caspary, though careful in his selection of philatelic material, was less fastidious in his curatorship and is reputed to have kept his material in a rather haphazard fashion. Several contemporary accounts confirm that Caspary carelessly placed a beverage glass on the 2c Missionary piece. As the moisture condensed, the thin pelure paper of the Missionaries curled and tore. Caspary, horrified by the consequences, gave the piece back to Warren H. Colson, the dealer from whom he acquired it, and never spoke of the matter again. Colson had the stamps expertly restored and sold the piece to Philipp Kosack. When the Kosack Missionaries were sold, an unidentified English collector purchased the piece, and, after his holding was dispersed, the piece became part of the Admiral Frederic R. Harris collection.

Ex Duveen, Caspary, Kosack, English Collection, Harris and Honolulu Advertiser. Colson mark at lower right. Census No. 1-II-PCE-14 and 3-I-PCE-133. Other census references: Meyer-Harris 14; Brewster 1-II-On Piece-1 and 3-I-On Piece-2. With 1995 P.F. certificate. Scott value for both stamps off cover with minor repairs and the usual black Hawaiian cancel is $278,000.00 "