George Grinnell's Hawaii Missionaries Stamp Collection
# HI-MSNRY - George Grinnell's Hawaii Missionaries Stamp Collection
$490,000.00
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HI-MSNRY - George Grinnell's Hawaii Missionaries Stamp Collection
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Mixed Used and Unused
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$ 490,000.00
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$ 490,000.00 |
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Fakes or Genuine? Grinnell Hawaiian Missionaries – 100-Year-Old Mystery
Examples of some of the stamps in this collection.
These are the famous Hawaiian Missionary "stamps" originally owned by George Grinnell himself (often called the Grinnell Missionaries). We bought these stamps directly from George's granddaughter around 2006.
A handwritten note by Grinnell himself.
The Grinnell Missionary story goes back over 100 years and is full of twists and turns. George Grinnell either bought the stamps from Charles Shattuck or printed the stamps himself to fool collectors. If he got the stamps from Shattuck, the stamps are genuine and very valuable. If he created counterfeit stamps and cancels, they're worth much less. This collection has one stamp acknowledged as genuine by the Philatelic Foundation (certificate included). The other 34 are, as far as we know, counterfeit.
The only confirmed Hawaiian Missionary stamp in this collection and its certificate of authenticity from the Philatelic Foundation.
In the spring of 2023, Kevin Lowther wrote an article stating the Grinnell stamps are genuine and has unique and fascinating reasons for his view. I urge you to read his article in Kelleher's Stamp Collector's Quarterly if you have a chance.
I previously asked a respected expert in stamps with a science background, Ted Liston, to examine and test the Grinnell stamps. Ted told me, chemically speaking, everything in the paper or ink was available in the 1850s. That means these stamps could be genuine. Later, the experts at the Royal Philatelic Society London published a study saying some of the inks are more modern than 1850 and that means they are forgeries.
You can watch the Smithsonian National Postal Museum Sundman Lecture on the Grinnell mystery, given in 2003 when the Royal was studying the stamps here. OR you can learn more about the background of these stamps by checking out Mystic's information booklet (put together by our stamp experts) here.
If you have time and money to persue this story and prove for certain whether the stamps are genuine or fake, this is a unique opportunity. The collection includes several boxes of clippings and information put together by the Grinnell descendants as they worked to prove the stamps genuine. If we don't sell this collection intact, we may split it into sets of stamps in the future.
Happy Collecting,
Don Sundman
Mystic President
Fakes or Genuine? Grinnell Hawaiian Missionaries – 100-Year-Old Mystery
Examples of some of the stamps in this collection.
These are the famous Hawaiian Missionary "stamps" originally owned by George Grinnell himself (often called the Grinnell Missionaries). We bought these stamps directly from George's granddaughter around 2006.
A handwritten note by Grinnell himself.
The Grinnell Missionary story goes back over 100 years and is full of twists and turns. George Grinnell either bought the stamps from Charles Shattuck or printed the stamps himself to fool collectors. If he got the stamps from Shattuck, the stamps are genuine and very valuable. If he created counterfeit stamps and cancels, they're worth much less. This collection has one stamp acknowledged as genuine by the Philatelic Foundation (certificate included). The other 34 are, as far as we know, counterfeit.
The only confirmed Hawaiian Missionary stamp in this collection and its certificate of authenticity from the Philatelic Foundation.
In the spring of 2023, Kevin Lowther wrote an article stating the Grinnell stamps are genuine and has unique and fascinating reasons for his view. I urge you to read his article in Kelleher's Stamp Collector's Quarterly if you have a chance.
I previously asked a respected expert in stamps with a science background, Ted Liston, to examine and test the Grinnell stamps. Ted told me, chemically speaking, everything in the paper or ink was available in the 1850s. That means these stamps could be genuine. Later, the experts at the Royal Philatelic Society London published a study saying some of the inks are more modern than 1850 and that means they are forgeries.
You can watch the Smithsonian National Postal Museum Sundman Lecture on the Grinnell mystery, given in 2003 when the Royal was studying the stamps here. OR you can learn more about the background of these stamps by checking out Mystic's information booklet (put together by our stamp experts) here.
If you have time and money to persue this story and prove for certain whether the stamps are genuine or fake, this is a unique opportunity. The collection includes several boxes of clippings and information put together by the Grinnell descendants as they worked to prove the stamps genuine. If we don't sell this collection intact, we may split it into sets of stamps in the future.
Happy Collecting,
Don Sundman
Mystic President