The Dawson Cover

Last sold November 7, 1995 for $2,090,000 (inc. buyer’s premium) by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries

This envelope is one of the world’s greatest postal history rarities. It is the only known cover bearing a copy of the 2 cent Hawaiian Missionary issue. Also on the cover are a 5 cent Missionary and a pair of the 3 cent stamps from the Unites States 1851 issue.

The Missionary stamps were so named because they were seen on letters sent by missionaries in Hawaii. The stamps were printed at a newspaper plant in Hawaii. This particular cover was salvaged nearly a century ago from an industrial firm in New England.

A worker cleaning out some partly burned papers in the company's furnace found the now famous cover in the ashes and debris. The envelope bears a scorch mark on the left side, below the pair of 3 cent stamps. It was sent to New York City from Honolulu, where it was posted on October 4, 1852.

The 5 cent Missionary paid the rate from Hawaii to San Francisco and the 2 cents paid the ship captain's fee. The pair of 3 cent 1851s paid the postage from California to New York.

The Dawson cover was reproduced on a 2002 souvenir sheet by the United States Postal Service. It once belonged to the Canadian-born industrialist George H. Worthington, who later settled in Cleveland, Ohio after amassing a fortune from a variety of businesses including railroad construction, quarrying, and chewing gum manufacture. He accumulated one of the most valuable philatelic collections in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which included a Post Office Mauritius cover and the 5 cent Alexandria “Blue Boy” postmaster provisional.

The Hawaiian Missionary stamps are rare, especially on cover. This particular cover was sold in recent years for over $2 million.

It is currently in a private collection and will be shown at Washington 2006.