Stamp Desk / Emperors and queens
Hawaii, 1891 (2 cents, Liliʻuokalani)
A queen with curled hair in an oval, printed in violet.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
No HAWAII on it: the Hawaiian words ELUA KENETA (two cents) and the queen are the clues.
- 1POSTAGE (no country name)
- 2ELUA KENETA: two cents
- Inscription
- POSTAGE · 2 · ELUA KENETA · 2
- Meaning
- ELUA KENETA is Hawaiian for two cents. HAWAII is not printed on this one.
- Issued by
- Kingdom of Hawaii
- Today
- the United States (the state of Hawaii) Flag of United States
- Year
- 1891. Issued 1891.
- Made by
- Postal administration of the Kingdom of Hawaii (official issuing/publishing administration); Unknown individual designer/engraver (designer and engraver not established)
One fact
Queen Liliʻuokalani, shown here, was the last monarch of Hawaii; the monarchy was overthrown in 1893.
Source and public-domain rule
Kingdom of Hawaii, published before 1931. Published by the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1891; Hawaii is now under US law, where any copyright in works published before 1931 has expired. Hawaii is now under United States law (Hawaii Admission Act, sec. 15); there, the longest term for a work published before 1978 is 95 years from publication, which ended for every work published in 1930 or earlier. The stamps stay labelled as issues of the Kingdom of Hawaii; they are not US federal works. Legal sources: 17 U.S.C. § 304, Hawaii Admission Act (Public Law 86-3), sec. 15.
Scan: Stamp Hawaii 1891 Liliuokalani Sc52.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1156664379), licence templates {{PD-old}} (a public-domain reason different from ours; both are recorded). Downloaded 2026-10-22, sha256 375546e4c718…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-22 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a second check of these rights by a person is planned, and a stamp that turns out not to be free to use will be removed. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
