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By 1875, Hawaii had a regime change and Kalakaua was King. New stamps honoring Kalakaua and his younger brother and heir apparent, Prince Leleiohoku, were issued February 20, 1875. These stamps are catalogued as Scott Nos. 35 and 36.

SCOTT NO. 35 2¢ BROWN KING DAVID KALAKAUA

Under Hawaii's Constitution, if the reigning monarch died without naming an heir the Legislature was required to elect a new monarch from among the high chiefs. Twice in the early 1870's the Legislature did so. First, after Kamehameha V died without an heir, the Legislature elected William Lunalilo. About a year later, Lunalilo died without an heir and Kalakaua was elected. In 1863-1865, Kalakaua was Hawaii's postmaster, so the new king was quite familiar with the post office. Not too surprisingly, several stamps were issued with his image, starting with the 2¢ brown of 1875. This stamp replaced the 2¢ orange-red, Scott No. 31 as the primary stamp for use on domestic mail. A strip of 3 paid the rate to the United States for a single letter until January 1, 1882. Domestic covers bearing this stamp are common and the use of this stamp on mail to the United States also is fairly ordinary.

There were three printings of Scott No. 35 by the NBNCo. on a fifty subject plate. Starting in 1879, the ABNCo. made three printings using the same plate. Later, the stamp was re-issued by the ABNCo., without a change of color, but printed on a new 100 subject plate. The new plate printed two sheets of 50 stamps each with a gutter between the two sheets. After printing, the two sheets were separated, leaving a straight edge on the two columns adjoining the gutter. See Bank Note Plate Layouts.

QUANTITIES

A total of 25,000 2¢ brown Kalakaua stamps were overprinted in 1893. All overprinted stamps are believed to come from the 1890 printing and none are thought to have come from any of the 50 subject plate printings.

There is evidence of plate wear in the stamps printed from the 50 subject plate. Also, several shades exist. Differentiating between the printings from the 50 subject plate is difficult. A dark stamp without any plate wear around the beard is from the first NBNCo. printing. At the other end of the printings, a straight edge identifies the stamp as a re-issue from the 100 subject plate. In between, some guesswork is involved in assigning a particular stamp to a particular printing. For purpose of this study, examples for shades and wear were taken from dated covers to assign to the various printings.

Fifty Subject Plate and One Hundred Subject Plate Compared

NBNCo. imprint	ABNCo. imprint

SHADES

Die proof	Plate proof	First Printing Dark Brown
Second NBNCo. printing	Third NBNCo. printing	Fourth Printing; ABNCo.
Fifth Printing; ABNCo.	Sixth Printing; ABNCo.	100 Subject Plate

PLATE WEAR AT THE BEARD

Die proof	Plate proof	First Printing, no separation between beard and background lines
Second Printing; some burnishing evident around the beard edges	Third NBNCo. printing; more wear	Fourth Printing; ABNCo.; retouched?
Fifth Printing; ABNCo.	Sixth Printing; ABNCo.	100 Subject Plate

SCOTT NO. 36 12¢ BLACK PRINCE WILLIAM PITT LELEIOHOKU

Soon after being elected king, Kalakaua named his younger brother heir apparent. Following a practice begun during Vancouver's visit in the 1790's, the prince was named after William Pitt, the famous British parliamentarian. The 12¢ stamp was valid for a double weight foreign letter to the United States until January 1, 1882, or for a single weight letter to the Australasian Colonies, including New Zealand, until September 30, 1891. Click Here for a discussion of use of Scott No. 36 on foreign mail in the Convention Period.

vignette proof on india paper on large card	Die proof on india paper on large card

Two printings were made of the 12¢ black Leleiohoku. The first printing was of 100,000 stamps in 1875 and the second printing was for 125,000 stamps in 1879. The second printing was a lighter black and printed on whiter, thicker paper than the first printing. A total of 134,250 12¢ black Leleiohoku were overprinted, drawn mostly from the 1879 printing. The remaining 90,750 unoverprinted 12¢ Leliohoku stamps were all believed sold at the Post Office and put in circulation before 1893.

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