Kingdom of Hawai‘i Stamps

(59k)

Foreign interest and expansion of commerce in Hawai‘i in the 1840s brought the need for a postal system. The first bag of official mail to Hawai‘i arrived from San Francisco in late 1850, and the following year Hawai‘i issued its first postage stamps.

Today, Bishop Museum's collection of Hawaiian stamps is among the best in the world.

The designs on the stamps reflect different eras in Hawaiian history:

• Hawai‘i 's first postage stamps are known as "Missionaries" because missionary families used them to send letters back home to New England. One Missionary stamp in Bishop Museum's collection, the "2-cent blue", is one of the world's rarest stamps (only 15 copies are known to exist!).
• The 1864 printing of Hawaiian postage, called "Numerals" was overseen by Mr. David Kalakaua, Honolulu's Postmaster from 1863-1865, who later became King Kalakaua.
• In January 1893, after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the Provisional Government overprinted the postage stamp showing Queen Lili`uokalani in order to reflect the new political situation.

From the Thomas G. Thrum Collection of Hawaiian Stamps, Envelopes and Postcards, purchased in 1899.

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