FLOAT
The Dawson Cover itself - the unique 1852 cover to Miss Eliza A. Dawson, New York, bearing the only known Hawaiian 2c Missionary on cover alongside a 5c Missionary and a pair of US 3c stamps, with the red Honolulu 'U.S. Postage Paid' datestamp.

Hawaiian Missionaries (Dawson Cover)

Maker
Kingdom of Hawaii (postmaster H.M. Whitney)
Year
1851
Rank
10 of 100

Hawaiian Missionaries (Dawson Cover)

Hawaiian Missionaries (Dawson Cover) by Kingdom of Hawaii (postmaster H.M. Whitney) (1851) is ranked 10 in the FLOAT 100 for Stamps. It sold for $2,240,000 on 1 January 2013. Hawaii's first stamps and among the most coveted classics in world philately; the Dawson Cover is the only known use of the 2c value on cover, famously rescued from a furnace.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

Hawaii's first stamps and among the most coveted classics in world philately; the Dawson Cover is the only known use of the 2c value on cover, famously rescued from a furnace.

2c/5c/13c 'Hawaiian Postage' Missionaries; the Dawson Cover bears the only known 2c on cover (rarest denomination)

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$2,240,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
1 January 2013

Dawson Cover realized ~$2.24M in 2013 (chain: $25K 1957, $90K 1967, $2.09M 1995, $2.24M 2013). NOTE: figure is for the COVER. Single-stamp comp: unique unused 2c (Scott HI1) sold $619,500 at Siegel, Gross collection, Oct 2018.

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
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2026-08-08