Tip of the week: Queen Liliuokalani postal card

Stamp Market Tips by Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

Hawaii is one of the most active specialty areas of United States philately.

Although many of Hawaii’s early Missionary stamps are prohibitively expensive and rare, the issues of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii are popular with many collectors.

Both the kingdom and the republic also issued postal stationery items, but these are less widely collected than stamps. 

One of the most attractive issues is the 1¢ red-on-buff Queen Liliuokalani postal card (Scott UX1). Only 125,000 of the postal cards were produced between 1882 and 1892. The 2018 Scott Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers values the postal card at $30 in mint condition and $75 in used condition, with the value for used condition in italics. 

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Examples in mint condition are a good buy at $15 or a bit more. The value of the postal cards in used condition varies widely depending on the post office where mailed. Cards from small, infrequently encountered post offices can bring up to $300 or more, while those mailed from more common post offices sell for around $40.