POST OFFICE IN PARADISE - Bank Notes: 1866 5¢ Greenish-Blue KAMEHAMEHA V: Scott No. 32

This page last updated: 16 May 2020

::: BANK NOTE ISSUE - 1866 5¢ Greenish-Blue KAMEHAMEHA V: SCOTT NO. 32 :::

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Seeing the successful reception of the 2¢ perforated stamps, Hawaiian postal authorities ordered the 5¢ value in an engraved perforated stamp. Catalogued as Scott 32, this new 5¢ stamp paid the Hawaiian rate on foreign mail. See Mail Rates - Late Treaty Rates. See use of Scott No. 32 on foreign mail in the Treaty Period for examples.

Scott No. 32 was printed on a fifty subject plate, 5x10. Inscriptions of the National Bank Note Company were engraved in the sides of the plate, on the left in Hawaiian and on the right in English. See Bank Note Plate Layouts. Layout lines made on the plate were not erased and appear clearly on Scott No. 32 stamps.


Layout lines on Scott No. 32	Layout lines - detail

Two printings were ordered in 1865-1866. The first order was sent in August, 1865, and called for 200,000 stamps. By October, 1865, the new stamps were in Honolulu but in possession of Wells Fargo pending resolution of a dispute over the shipping cost. That dispute finally was resolved on March 21, 1866. Hawaii's supply of the old 5¢ stamps (Scott No. 9) had run out around August, 1865 and an emergency supply of 5¢ stamps was printed up using the Numeral frame (Scott No. 21). While the new stamps languished in the Wells Fargo safe, Hawaii ran out of its emergency supply and made another printing of the 5¢ Numeral (Scott No. 22). Thus, we can thank Wells Fargo for the last printing of the 5¢ Numeral.

A second order, for 100,000 stamps, was sent in May, 1866, and arrived in January, 1867. These second order stamps were printed in a deeper blue shade than the first stamps.


First Printing from an August 25, 1866 cover	Second Printing from a February 9, 1867 cover

Some writers list the paper of Scott No. 32 as bluish. Indeed some examples appear to be on bluish paper, but the blueness comes from sloppy plate wiping rather than from the paper color. Stamps of the first printing seem to exhibit more blueness on the paper.


First Printing - bluish paper from poor plate wiping	Second Printing

Mail postmarked in Honolulu on April 25, 1866, contained the earliest recorded use of Scott No. 32. Sailings left Honolulu with mail on March 22, April 3 and April 8 so an earlier use is possible. Hawaiian stamps used on recorded covers from those three earlier sailings are one of the two 5¢ Numeral stamps. Possibly the new stamps were held until the supply of 5¢ Numerals was exhausted.

On July 1, 1870, a rate change to 6¢ on foreign mail rendered the 5¢ stamps obsolete. See Mail Rates - Convention Period. But Hawaii had no 6¢ stamps so 5¢ stamps continued to appear on mail, either with a bisected 2¢ Kamehameha IV stamp (Scott 31b) or a pair with a 2¢ Kamehameha IV stamp for a double weight letter, until a supply of 6¢ stamps was received in April, 1871. Scott No. 32 also worked with a 1¢ stamp to pay the 6¢ rate. See use of Scott No. 32 on foreign mail in the Convention Period for examples.

After another rate change restored the 5¢ rate at the start of 1882, Scott 32 stocks were still available for use and once more became the basic foreign mail stamps. See Mail Rates - UPU Period. See use of Scott No. 32 on foreign mail in the UPU Period for examples.

Eventually, the plate made by the National Bank Note Company would be used by the American Bank Note Company to print the early printings of the 5¢ ultramarine stamps (Scott No. 39) and the 5¢ dark indigo stamp (Scott No. 52C). See Scott Nos. 32, 39 and 52C Compared.

Multiples of Scott No. 32

Blocks of four can be obtained, but they are scarce. Larger multiples might exist but nothing larger than a block of four was in the Advertiser Collection.

Proofs of Scott No. 32


Vignette proof/essay	Bright scarlet vignette

Plate proof	Die proof

Gray-lilac trial color proof	Violet-brown trial color proof

Trial color proofs of Scott No. 32 are reported in several colors: blue, black-blue, gray-lilac, deep green, yellow, orange-brown, brown, violet-brown, vermilion, carmine, lilac-rose and blue-gray.

Perforation Flaws

More perforation flaws are found among Scott 32 stamps than any other Hawaiian issue. They show the NBNCo. was experiencing some problems with perforating these stamps. Well centered examples of Scott 32 are scarce.


Misperf horizontal	Misperf horizontal	Misperf horizontal


Misperf vertical	Misperf vertical	Misperf vertical

Specimen Impression

The word SPECIMEN is seen impressed on Scott 32 stamps exchanged with a foreign post office under Universal Postal Union rules. These exchanges happened after Hawaii joined the UPU in 1882 and stamp with this impression appear to be from the second printing. The impression is said to have been applied in the country receiving the stamps. Whether the word is printed or handstamped is unclear. In the image above, the misalignment of the words suggests they were done one at a time. The way the ink lays on the paper suggests a handstamp might have been used. Sometimes the word is followed by a period and sometimes not, suggesting a form was used with a missing period in one position on the form. Smeared or doubled impressions are known. Anyone having multiples of this overprint should let me know by E-mail (scott312@earthlink.net).

Specimen impression detail showing period after some, but not all impressions

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beardsley, Wallace R., "Hawaii: Five-Cent Kamehameha V Issues", The American Philatelist, Vol. 77, No. 2 [754], pp. 103-112, Nov., 1963. Exhaustive analysis of Scott Nos. 32, 39, 52c, 58 and 59; Beardsley solved the puzzle of the printing sequence.

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