The William H. Gross Collection: Important Hawaii Postage Stamps and Postal History continued...

VERY FINE. AN IMPRESSIVE AND UNUSUAL FRANKING USING FOUR UNITED STATES STAMPS TO PAY THE 10-CENT RATE. ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE BLACK JACK STAMPS.

This cover was carried on the contract steamship Idaho, which cleared Honolulu on November 2, 1867, and arrived in San Francisco on November 15. This was the first return voyage of the Idaho under contract with the North Pacific Transportation Company. Starting with this trip, mail received the red oval Hawaiian Steam Service” handstamp. Only two covers carried on this voyage did not receive this marking -- this and the cover offered in the following lot.

Ex Pietsch. Illustrated in the Gregory book (II-228). 1978 P.F. certificate no longer accompanies (Image)

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VERY FINE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED HAWAIIAN AND UNITED STATES MIXED FRANKING WITH THE 30-CENT 1861 ISSUE STAMP. IT IS ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE ADDITIONAL BLACK JACK STAMPS.

This cover was carried on the contract steamship Idaho, which cleared Honolulu on November 2, 1867, and arrived in San Francisco on November 15. This was the first return voyage of the Idaho under contract with the North Pacific Transportation Company. Starting with this trip mail received the red oval Hawaiian Steam Service” handstamp. Only two covers carried on this voyage did not receive this marking — this and the cover offered in the previous lot. This cover was carried further on the Cunarder Cuba, which cleared New York December 14, 1867, and arrived in Queenstown on December 14. It was delivered to Glasgow the following day.

This cover likely originated on one of the outer islands. It escaped receiving a Honolulu postmark, probably because it arrived just before the sailing for San Francisco. The 5c stamp paid the Hawaiian rate. The 34c in U.S. postage paid the 10c contract ship-letter rate from Hawaii to the United States, plus the 24c treaty rate to Scotland (19c credit to England).

Ex Pietsch. Illustrated in Gregory book (II-269). 1982 R.P.S. certificate no longer accompanies (Image)

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VERY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE MIXED-FRANKING COVER WITH THE 1866 5-CENT KAMEHAMEHA V AND UNITED STATES 10-CENT 1869 PICTORIAL ISSUES. THIS IS THE EARLIEST OF THE NINE RECORDED 10-CENT 1869 PICTORIAL ISSUE COVERS FROM HAWAII.

This cover was carried on the American steamer Idaho, which cleared Honolulu on November 27, 1869, and arrived in San Francisco on December 9. Most mail was datestamped on arrival on December 10, but since this was addressed to San Francisco, it must have been processed before mail sent to other destinations by the recently completed Union Pacific railroad line.

Michael Laurence, on page 311 of his outstanding book on the 10c 1869 Issue, records only nine 10c covers from Hawaii. All are used with the Hawaii 5c stamp, No. 32. Only four of these bear single examples of each stamp. Only one other is addressed to San Francisco (ex Golden).

Ex Krug, Rust and Pietsch. Illustrated in the Gregory book (II-247). (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN EXTRAORDINARY USE OF THE 1869 PICTORIAL ISSUE ON MAIL FROM JAPAN TO HAWAII VIA SAN FRANCISCO, PAYING TWO 10-CENT TRANS-PACIFIC MAIL RATES. WE KNOW OF NO OTHER COMPARABLE COVER.

This cover was carried on the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s Japan, which cleared Yokohama on April 23, 1870, and arrived in San Francisco on May 13. The next steamship sailing was not until June 10, so this was placed on the American clipper ship Governor Morton, which cleared customs in San Francisco on May 19 and departed the following day, arriving in Honolulu on June 2.

The 20c in United States postage was intended to pay two different rates. The first was the 10c rate from Japan to San Francisco, carried in the U.S. mail. The second was the 10c contract steamship rate from San Francisco to Honolulu, though it actually went by non-contract steamer.

Illustrated in Gregory book (II-308) (Image)

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