The Thurston Twigg-Smith Collection of Hawaiian Stamps and Postal History continued...

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS ONE OF ONLY FOUR EXAMPLES OF THE 25-CENT OFFICIAL ON COVER, AND THE ONLY USAGE WHICH WAS NOT SENT VIA REGISTERED MAIL.

Please refer to lot 4355 for the history of this issue and a census of the four recorded 25c Official covers.

Ex Honolulu Advertiser. (Image)

VERY FINE. A TRULY SPECTACULAR AND VERY RARE FRANKING WITH THE HAWAIIAN OFFICIAL ISSUE, WHICH WAS CREATED TO PROMOTE THE ANNEXATION MOVEMENT. THIS MAY 5, 1897, COVER IS REPORTED BY GREGORY TO BE THE EARLIEST DOCUMENTED USE OF THE 5-CENT AND 25-CENT VALUES.

The Official set depicting Lorrin A. Thurston, grandfather of Thurston Twigg-Smith and proponent of annexation, was issued on January 28, 1897. When use of this issue was discontinued on August 12, 1898, nearly half the original printing of 10,000 was still on hand, with many of those sold going directly to dealers and collectors (later, stamps were cancelled to order to prevent their unauthorized use). Despite the numerous philatelic mailings of later Hawaiian issues, the Officials appear to have been neglected. This, combined with the small printings and light use of the high values in a very narrow time frame, accounts for the rarity of the 25c Official on cover.

We are aware of the following four 25c covers: 1) May 5, 1897, 25c pair with 5c and 10c, registered to Hatch, Washington D.C., the cover offered here, 2) Oct. 20, 1897, 25c pair with 10c pair, registered to Hatch, Washington D.C., ex Blueler, Omdahl, 3) Nov. 9, 1897, 25c strip of three with 10c pair, registered to Hatch, Washington D.C., ex Pietsch, and 4) Apr. 22, 1898, 25c single and 5c single, non-registered to Hatch, Washington D.C., ex Honolulu Advertiser, offered in this sale as lot 4354. (Image)