::: CANCELS - Pen :::
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A Scott No. 31a cover dated (on the back) on September 9, 1876 and canceled with a pen
mark thought to be the initials of a local postmaster on the island of Hawaii.
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Docketing on the back of this double weight cover franked with a pair of 2¢ Scott No.
31a stamps shows it originated at Kealia, Kauai and was mailed on May 5, 1868. The
stamps were canceled by pen with a manuscript double crossroads.
Davey lumped all of the manuscript pen marks under one reference number (Section 16,
Pen Cancels and Town Marks, number 801), together with manuscript postmarks. Shaffer
hardly touched them. Manuscript town postmarks are addressed in these pages under the
name of the town in Town Postmarks. Examples of other manuscript crosses, X's,
scratches and blotches are shown here. Identifying all manuscript marks would probably
end in frustration. Most local postmasters lacked canceling devices for many years and
some never had them. Their only means for canceling stamps was marking them with ink
using a pen. In only a few instances can we identify a particular mark with a specific
location or postmaster.
Finding a suitable reference system for the manuscript marks is a challenge. Perhaps
the inability to find a suitable description is the reason Davey seems to have given up on
them. Here the manuscript mark references begin with pen
followed by initials, cross, X,
lines or other.
Crayon markings are included with pen markings. Perhaps a better reference system will
occur to someone and it can be adopted.
Pen Initials
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peninitials(CHD)
circa 1880
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Davey unlisted
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Usage: circa 1880
These initials were those of C. H. Dickey, the postmaster of Haiku on Maui and the
person who introduced the telephone to Hawaii.
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Pen Crosses
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pencross(double cross)
September 3, 1860
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Davey 801
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Usage: September 3, 1860
The cover is docketed by Rev. Sereno Bishop as being from C. A. Bishop. There were
a number of Bishops in Hawaii then, but I have yet to find the one whose initials were
C. A. other than Sereno's five year old son.
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pencross(double cross)
May 5, 1868
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Davey 801
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Usage: Kealia, Kauai, May 5, 1868.
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pencross(double cross)
May 22, 1871
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Davey 801
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Usage: Honolulu, 1871.
The cover is docketed by Rev. S. E. Bishop as being from J. F. Pogue, who at that
time was in Honolulu as Secretary of the Hawaiian Board of Missions.
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pencross(cross-hatch)
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Davey 801
Shaffer 2-230
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Usage: Honolulu, April 3, 1867 to December 10, 1867.
This cancel was used on outgoing foreign letters.
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pencross(crayon)
yellow
red
blue
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Davey 801
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Usage: Thought to be associated with mail carried
by the Kahului Railroad.
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Pen X's
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penX(small)
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Davey 801
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Usage: Unknown origin; noted on Scott No. 30a
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penX(medium)
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Davey 801
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Usage: Various styles from unknown origins, 1860's to 1890's.
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penX(large)
Wailuku, October 25, 1875
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Davey 801
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Usage: Noted on a cover docketed October 25, 1875
on a cover from W. P. Alexander at Wailuku, Maui.
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Pen Lines
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penlines(short parallel)
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Davey 801
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Usage: Hilo, early 1860's
The stamp is Scott No. 27 on cover to Hattie Coan at Punahou. Her family lived in
Hilo. The two parallel line marks were common.
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penlines(long parallel)
April 16, 1870
Waimea, Hawaii
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Davey 801
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Usage: Waimea, Hawaii, 1870.
These lines are unique to postmaster Rev. Lorenzo Lyons.
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penlines(straight parallel)
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Davey 801
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Usage: Origin unknown – perhaps the Kahului
Railroad. The mark looks like a modern day postal clerk's decimation cancel.
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Pen Other
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penother(blot)
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Davey 801
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Usage: Maui, early 1860's.
Noted on a cover postmarked at Lahaina.
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penother(snake)
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Davey 801
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Usage: Origin unknown; noted on Scott No. 32.
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