Arrigo family to sell Grinnell Missionaries; Mystic to display them at Washington 2006
Thirty-six stamps said by their owners and others to be from the first issue of the kingdom of Hawaii — the legendary Hawaiian Missionary stamps of 1851 — are for sale. The asking price is $1.5 million.
The 36 stamps are being offered at one time in a landmark sale by Mystic Stamp Co. of Camden, N.Y., on behalf of owners Carol and Vince Arrigo.
Mystic intends to have the 36 stamps on display at the Washington 2006 international philatelic exhibition that will be held May 27 through June 3 in Washington, D.C.
"If the stamps sell before Washington 2006 opens, we will still strive to display the stamps in our booth," stated Donald J. Sundman, president of Mystic. Sundman told Linn’s that Mystic is in possession of all 36 stamps.
The Grinnells, about which controversy and mystery have swirled for more than 85 years, are named after George H. Grinnell (1875-1949), a seasoned stamp collector who acquired them from Los Angeles resident Charles B. Shattuck in 1918.
On Feb. 28, 2002, the descendants of two California families submitted 55 of the stamps — known to collectors as the Grinnell Missionaries — to the Royal Philatelic Society London along with a thick dossier of paperwork tracing the history of the stamps and their provenance.
In May 2004, the Royal informed the two families that own the Grinnells that the stamps are forgeries. The families believed the stamps are genuine prior to their submitting them, and they continue to believe so.
The Royal once planned to publish its findings in an upcoming issue of the London Philatelist, but they are to appear as a book sometime in 2006, perhaps by the time of Washington 2006.
The Arrigos are the Grinnell heirs. They own the 36 stamps that Mystic Stamp Co. is selling on their behalf.
The Shattuck family, represented by family member Pat- rick G. Culhane, owns an additional 32 Grinnells (29 of which the Royal examined). None of these 32 are among the stamps being sold by Mystic.
Of the 36 stamps available for sale, 26 were examined by the Royal, and 10 were not.
The unused pair of 2¢ Grinnell Hawaiian Missionaries illustrated on page 53 was examined by the Royal. The Royal did not expertize the single used 2¢ Grinnell pictured on page 1.
If genuine, the pair of 2¢ Grinnells would be worth a small fortune.
Of the 197 certifi ed Hawaiian Missionaries, only a single 2¢ stamp is recorded in unused condition.
There are 14 certifi ed used 2¢ Hawaiian Missionaries, including the 2¢ stamp on the famous Dawson cover that was auctioned in 1995 for more than $2 million as part of the Honolulu Advertiser collection.
The 10 stamps not scrutinized by the Royal are new to the census of known Grinnell Missionaries, which now stands at 81 stamps.
[Editor’s note: The story on page 1 traces the 81 Grinnell Missionaries from their initial discovery in 1918.]
Sundman told Linn’s that the 36 stamps are being offered at a price of $1.5 million.
"Whoever buys the stamps also gets all the research, notes and background information accumulated over 80 years by George Grinnell, Grinnell’s granddaughter Carol Arrigo and Vincent Arrigo," Sundman stated. "I believe it fi lls two fi le cabinets.
"The Arrigos have worked on this project for decades, and with additional research from Patrick G. Culhane, they have advanced the story. They now feel it’s time for someone to complete the research and take it to the ultimate conclusion."
The Shattuck family received its stamps in 1927 from George Grinnell.
Sundman said that the Arrigos approached Mystic Stamp Co. in late 2003 about selling the Grinnells on their behalf.
"The Arrigos contacted me not long after David Beech [then head of the British Library’s philatelic collections] gave an informative talk about the Royal’s ongoing examination of the Grinnells at the National Postal Museum in October 2003," Sundman said.
Linn’s reported Nov. 3, 2003, that "Beech dropped out a string of hints, several of them negative, about how the Grinnells are faring in the secretive probe."
Beech remarked at the time that the Grinnells "are not the same as the Missionaries. They are typographically different. There is no doubt about that at all."
During the course of their decades of research, the Arrigos meticulously assembled an enormous amount of documentation in support of the Grinnells.
They pointedly disagree with the Royal’s calling the stamps forgeries, stating that the Royal "enumerated reasons for its conclusions, all of which, in our opinion, were hypothetical."
"In its rough draft summary report, there is no proof or documented evidence that the stamps are forgeries.
"On the positive side, the Royal did acknowledge that the Grinnell stamps are indeed the product of typeset printing."
After hearing the Royal’s opinion, the Arrigos thought it would be best to sell the stamps as an intact group.
"It will be a smoother transaction if someone wants all the stamps," Sundman said. "In addition, it would be much more difficult to establish prices were the stamps to be sold separately."
Sundman said that Mystic Stamp Co. would be advertising the sale of the Grinnells in a forthcoming issue of Linn’s.
The Royal Philatelic Society London did not examine this 2¢ Grinnell Hawaiian Missionary stamp and nine other Grinnell stamps. The number of known Grinnells stands at 81.