USPS on 24 October 2002 issued a first day cover "Hawaiian Missionaries" souvenir sheet, postmarked New York. This water-activated gum (WAG) souvenir sheet contained four 37-cent stamps. The sheet, designed by Richard Sheaff. Sales were restricted to the full pane of stamps. No individual, single-stamp sales were permitted.
The 2002 Hawaiian Missionaries stamps were reproduce examples of Hawaii's first four postage stamps, which were issued in three denominations: 2 cents, 5 cents and 13 cents. The stamps are called "Hawaiian Missionaries" by philatelists because most of them were used on correspondence mailed by Christian missionaries from Hawaii to their families, friends, and business associates. These rare stamps are now considered among the world's foremost philatelic items. Only 28 covers bearing Missionary stamps are known to exist, and only one surviving cover bears the 2-cent stamp: the famous "Dawson cover" shown on this souvenir sheet.
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