POST OFFICE IN PARADISE - Honolulu Foreign Mail Postmarks to 1886

This page last updated: 20 August 2008

::: Honolulu Foreign Mail Postmarks to 1886 :::

This cover is the earliest recorded use of the Honolulu straight-line postmark, type 201. It was placed aboard the schooner Penelope for San Francisco and then aboard the steamer Oregon, departing San Francisco on December 1 for Panama City. The practice in San Francisco was to postmark letters on the date of the steamer sailing. At San Francisco, the cover was rated "42" to indicate the 40¢ steamship rate to New York plus the 2¢ ship fee. A mute charge of 10¢ was paid in Honolulu to place the letter aboard ship in Honolulu Harbor. Total postage was 52¢, of which 42¢ was paid by the recipient upon delivery.

STRAIGHTLINE

MH #201; Straight-line postmark from printer's type; blue (top image) before December 21, 1850 and black (bottom image) from December 21.
Usage: November 2, 1850 to June 14, 1851.
Scarcity 2, 34 recorded examples, of which eight are blue strikes (rarity 1RRR). See Log of Covers for the Inaugural Treaty Period.

HONOLULU
HAWAIIAN-ISLANDS

March 11, 1852

December 3, 1852

December 25, 1854

MH# 236.11 (I); 28mm, red, boxwood base; used for mail with U.S. postage collect but also seen on some covers believed to have been prepaid. Usage: December, 1851 (?) to March 19, 1855.
Scarcity 2, 72 recorded strikes on cover. (Please E-mail (scott312@earthlink.net) me if you can identify a pre-March 11, 1852 strike.) Jim Shaffer has proven postmarks in this style were made by three different but similar devices (see numbers 4 and 7, below). A fourth device in the same style is known, but only on a domestic cover in 1865. See the characteristics of Type I below. A break in the rim below the first "A" of "HAWAIIAN" happened in December, 1852.

HONOLULU
U. S. Postage Paid

February 25, 1852

March 31, 1852

May 11, 1852

August 16, 1853

November 9, 1854

July 28, 1855

MH# 236.05 (I); 28mm, red, boxwood base; used for mail with U. S. postage prepaid.
Usage: February 10, 1852 to August 30, 1855.
Scarcity 3, 132 strikes on cover. Jim Shaffer has proven postmarks in this style also were made by three different but similar devices (see numbers 5 and 6, below). See the characteristics of Type I below. A break in the rim beneath the "S" happened in April, 1854 and another break above the "UL" happened in November, 1854. Still another break beneath the "ge" happened in December, 1854.

HONOLULU
HAWAIIAN-ISLANDS.

April 23, 1855

May 17, 1855

June 5, 1855

MH# 236.11 (II); 28mm, red, boxwood base; used for collect mail but also seen on some prepaid covers.
Usage: April 6, 1855 to April 14, 1856.
Scarcity 2, 42 strikes on cover are known. See the characteristics of Type II below. A break in the rim between the "D" and "S" of "ISLANDS" happened in mid-June, 1855 and another break in the rim below "-IS" happened in March, 1856.

HONOLULU
U. S. Postage Paid

November 3, 1855

March 5, 1856

MH# 236.05 (II); 28mm, red, boxwood base; used for mail with U. S. postage prepaid.
Usage: September 14, 1855 to May 1, 1856.
Rarity 1R, 28 strikes known on cover. See the characteristics of Type II below. The month letters are large, January through May, 1856.

HONOLULU
U. S. Postage Paid

July 26, 1856

December 6, 1856

December 17, 1856

June 27, 1857

MH# 236.05 (III); 28mm, red, boxwood base; used for mail with U. S. postage prepaid.
Usage: May 24, 1856 to June 27, 1857.
Scarcity 2, 59 strikes recorded on cover. See the characteristics of Type III below. A break in the rim beneath the "e" shows on most strikes. At some point before June, 1857, a break appeared above the second "O."

HONOLULU
HAWAIIAN-ISLANDS.

December 8, 1856

April 8, 1857

MH# 236.11 (III); 28mm, red, boxwood base, used for collect mail.
Usage: June 6, 1856 to May 21, 1857.
Rarity 1RR, 16 recorded covers. See the characteristics of Type III below.

The three prepaid postmarks, type 236.05, compared:


Type I a) letters of "HONOLULU" are 3mm tall b) "e" and "P" are separated by 1.5mm c) no period after "Paid"	Type II a) letters of "HONOLULU" are 3.5mm tall b) no space between "e" and "P" c) no period after "Paid" d) "S" seems upside down	Type III a) letters of "HONOLULU" are 3.5mm tall b) narrow space between "e" and "P" c) period after "Paid" d) second "O" is larger

The three collect postmarks, type 236.11, compared:


Type I a) right star is midway between "U" and "S" b) first "O" of "Honolulu" is midway between "H" and "N" c) no period after "Islands" d) last "U" of "Honolulu" points at "W" in "Hawaiian" e) second "O" is smaller than in other types	Type II a) right star is close to "U" b) first "O" of "HONOLULU" is close to "N" c) period after "ISLANDS"	Type III a) right star is midway between "U" and "S" b) first "O" is rounder than in other types c) period after "ISLANDS" d) "H" of "HAWAIIAN" is even with "S"

HONOLULU
HAWAIIAN-ISLANDS

January 12, 1859

November 15, 1862

February 20, 1869

June 22, 1870

MH# 243.03; 35mm, red (to March 28, 1863) or black (from April 18, 1863), steel base; initially used for collect mail. Starting in 1859, the device also was used to cancel Numeral Stamps on domestic mail. From October, 1868 to June, 1870, it was the only device used for both foreign and domestic mail. By mid-1870, the mark was showing distinct signs of wear. Starting July 1, 1870, it was used mostly for domestic mail but also was used as a backstamp postmark of origin on mail sent through the United States to other countries.
Usage: August 1, 1857 to November, 1877.
Estimated 8, between 2,000 and 3,000 estimated strikes.

HONOLULU
U. S. Postage Paid

December 15, 1866

MH# 242.03; 34mm, red, steel base; used on mail with U.S. postage prepaid.
Usage: August 1, 1857 to October 5, 1868; also in September, 1869.
Scarcity 5, 431 known strikes.

General Post Office
Honolulu

December 13, 1869

MH#212; 30mm x 25mm oval, blue
Usage: December 13, 1869
Rarity 1RRRR, one known strike; other strikes are known on post office letterhead stationery

HONOLULU FOREIGN MAIL
POSTMARKS OF THE CONVENTION PERIOD

Postmarks were required by the Convention to include the name Honolulu and the words "PAID ALL." They were supposed to be placed in the upper right corner and away from the stamps. For this reason, off-cover strikes of these postmarks are few.

For mail sent through the United States to other countries in the time frame July, 1875 to July, 1881, domestic postmarks were placed on the backs of the covers and often are ignored in auction lot descriptions or included only with vague references.

So far as the attempted postmark census is concerned, expect the rarity factors to rise. For covers to the United States, many more are expected to come to light than are identified so far. We probably have a more complete census of mixed franking covers to other countries, because they have been given more attention by auction houses, but the type of postmark is unknown for many. Future opportunities to examine those postmarks will add to the number of postmarks we can count. However, the rise in rarity should be relatively modest for mixed franking covers because the pool is small unless there are a lot more out there to identify. Finally, it should be noted the rarity rating for the domestic mail postmarks on this table are for their use on foreign mail. They are found frequently on domestic mail of the Period and while some are considered scarce by the standard described in Describing Postal Markings main page, none of them is rare.

A domestic mail postmark is found on the only newspaper wrapper to surface thus far from the Convention Period. If other wrappers are discovered, they likely will bear a domestic mail postmark as well.

G. P. O. HONOLULU/PAID ALL

July 23, 1870

August 25, 1870

MH# 245.02, 37 mm, orange-red.
Usage: July 22, 1870 to September 5, 1870.
Rarity 1RR, nineteen strikes recorded, including thirteen covers and one large piece

G. P. O. HONOLULU/PAID ALL

April 22, 1872

October 25, 1873

MH# 277.12, 32mm, orange-red.
Usage: September 24, 1870 to October 19, 1874.
Scarcity 3, 109 recorded covers

G. P. O./HAWN.ISLDS PAID ALL

May 3, 1875

MH# 233.24, 25mm, orange-red.
Usage: November 17, 1874 to March 1, 1877.
Scarcity 3, 79 recorded covers

HONOLULU. H.I./PAID ALL

April 23, 1877

MH# 221.02, 22mm, orange-red, purple.
Usage: February 27, 1877 to May 12, 1879 [an unconfirmed June, 1879 date is reported].
Scarcity 2, 65 recorded covers. Purple strikes are late usage.

HONOLULU. H.I./PAID ALL

March 13, 1880

MH# 237.12, 29mm, purple.
Usage: August 4, 1879 to June 22, 1881
Scarcity 2, 67 recorded strikes.

HONOLULU. H.I./PAID ALL

April 19, 1881

MH# 235.32, 27mm, magenta, purple, red.
Usage: March 15, 1881 to December 19, 1881.
Scarcity 2, 37 recorded covers. Purple is early use, red is in the middle and magenta is late use.

LOCAL AND INTERISLAND MARKS USED ON FOREIGN MAIL IN THE CONVENTION PERIOD

August, 1875 to July, 1881

The following postmarks normally used for local and inter-island mail were also used as noted below on foreign mail sent through the United States to other destinations. For a discussion of these marks on local and inter-island mail, go to Honolulu Domestic Mail Postmarks to 1886. The number or recorded strikes of these postmarks as backstamps on foreign mail is expected to rise as more information is collected about the backstamps on known covers.

HONOLULU/HAWAIIAN - ISLANDS

November 12, 1875

MH# 243.03, 35mm, black.
Usage in this Period on foreign mail: August 23, 1875 to November 12, 1875.
Rarity for this usage: 1RRRR, two covers recorded as backstamps on foreign mail in this time frame. Use on local or interisland mail is more common (see Honolulu Domestic Mail Postmarks to 1886).

GEN'L POST OFFICE/HONOLULU. H.I.

December 4, 1876

MH# 222.02, 22mm, black.
Usage on foreign mail: December 4, 1876 to May 14, 1878.
Rarity for this usage: 1RRR, six recorded covers as backstamps on foreign mail in this time frame. Use on local or interisland mail is more common (see Honolulu Domestic Mail Postmarks to 1886).

POST OFFICE/HONOLULU. H.I.

December 23, 1878

MH# 223.029, 24mm, black.
Usage on foreign mail: August 5, 1878 to July 7, 1879.
Rarity for this usage: 1RRRR, five recorded covers as backstamps on foreign mail in this time frame. Use on local or interisland mail is more common (see Honolulu Domestic Mail Postmarks to 1886).

HONOLULU/H. I.

September 27, 1880

MH# 234.62, 26mm, black.
Usage on foreign letters: February 17, 1879 to July 4, 1881.
Usage on newspaper wrapper noted February 17, 1879.
Rarity for this usage: 1RR, twenty recorded strikes as backstamps on foreign mail in this time frame. Use on local or interisland mail is more common (see Honolulu Domestic Mail Postmarks to 1886).

HONOLULU FOREIGN MAIL
POSTMARKS OF THE UPU PERIOD TO 1886

Excepting type 243.03, the ubiquitous postmark used for a record twenty years on both foreign and domestic mail, and also excepting the domestic mail postmark usage on foreign mail in the Convention Period just described, postmarks used on foreign mail were different devices than those used on domestic mail until 1884. Starting in January, 1884, the Honolulu Post Office began using the type 235.12 postmark on domestic mail, but used the device with black ink for domestic mail and red ink for foreign mail until July, 1884. The process of cleaning the marker must have been tedious and starting in July, 1884, the type 235.12 postmark was used in black ink for all mail. Use of type 235.12 was discontinued in August, 1886. From July, 1884, to the end of Hawaii's independent postal system, there is no distinction between the postmarks used on foreign and domestic mail, excepting a hybrid type, described below, for use on Australasian mail during a short time period.

HONOLULU/HAWAII

January 15, 1882
magenta

April 12, 1882
purple

MH# 235.12, 27mm, magenta, purple, red, black.
Note cross-stroke in the "N" is intact.
Usage: January 15, 1882 to August 15, 1886.
Scarcity 5
magenta: January, 1882
purple: February, 1882 - April, 1882
red-purple: May, 1882 - July 2, 1882
red: July, 1882 - June, 1884
black: July, 1884 - August, 1886

May 23, 1882
magenta

December 1, 1883
red

The cross-stroke in the "N" dropped out between May 8, 1882 and May 23, 1882. All strikes from May 23, 1882 show the "N" as two parallel lines without a cross-stroke. By December, 1883, the outer circle broke above the second "O" of "HONOLULU". During 1884, breaks in the outer line appear beneath "HAWAII", first to the right of the "W" but spreading leftward as the marker continued to wear.

April 1, 1884
red

August 14, 1886
black

Note some months have serifed letters and others are in non-serif type. Serifed type letters are noted in February, 1884, June, 1885, June, 1886 to August, 1886 and March, 1885. All other months noted so far are non-serifed.

HONOLULU/PAID ALL

June 12, 1886

UNLISTED HYBRID MH# 235.32 (tentative 235.33), 27mm, black.

The old type 235.32 postmark device was used to show "PAID ALL" on mail to Australasia between April 1, 1886, when the mail subsidy for the Australasian mail expired, and September 30, 1886, when the mail subsidy was renewed. However, the year was omitted from the date and the month and day were borrowed from type 235.12.
Rarity: 1RRRR; one strike is identified so far, dated June 12, 1886.

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