Mail in Hawaii used to be carried by ships with no official postal system
in place. However, by 1851, traffic in Hawaii was high enough that the
government set up a postal office and established official postal rates.
These Hawaiian Missionaries Stamps came in the denominations of 2, 5, and 13 cents. They
were the first stamps issued in Hawaii and were most often used
by missionaries working there at the time.
An envelope containing a 2 cent and 5 cent Hawaiian Missionary stamp (as well
as two other 3 cent stamps) survived to this day and is known as the Dawson
Cover:
This cover sold for $1.9 million in 1995.
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