Postal Tour: $7 Hawaii stamp?

I'd heard about the $7 stamp used for big packages, the only current one I know if that has any Hawaii connection. Finally, yesterday, I asked more about it at the Makiki Post Office, and the clerk obliged. The art is of Liliuokalani Gardens, to my surprise. That isn't just a Hawaii stamp. It's Hilo. Classic Hilo. So, of course, I immediately realized that this isn't a stamp to be used for just anything. I'll save it for the next trip to the Big Island. But using it on an envelope seems preposterous. And normally, I use two envelopes for my collection. Buy another $7 stamp?

Or maybe it belongs in the postmark book. That gets complicated, too, because when I returned to postmark collecting in May after a 21-year break, I wasn't organized. I was in Hilo. I got the bug to finally get a Ninole Post Office postmark. And then I went and got 10 or so more up and down the Hamakua Coast over a period of two mornings. But because I wasn't prepared, I got the postmarks on loose, hard paper. Nice enough, but not in a book, which I got later back on Oahu. A Moleskine "watercolor" art book, which I'd never noticed before. It does the trick. But do I settle for loose pages (even though they look real nice) or start over with the Big Island postmarks and get them in the book? I'm leaning toward the latter.

But the Liliuokalani Gardens stamp is a beauty. I wish all of the Hawaii stamps were available. So many great ones, including the Duke.

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