Is This An Unlisted Variety Of Hawaii 49?

This tattered copy of Hawaii 49 sold today at Golden Oak auctions with spirited bidding for $650. Scott lists this with Maltese Cross cancellation at $150, versus a regular cancellation for CV $275.

I'd like to know why multiple bidders were so interested in this stamp. It opened I think at $50 then quickly jumped into the hundreds. The stamp is Ex-Atherton (I assume that is Frank Atherton, and not J.P. "Atherton Shift" Atherton). Provenance wouldn't be enough to increase the value of the stamp by this much, is this an unlisted variety or something else?

Several years ago I bought a US BOB collection for the revenues (what else is there?) and there were a couple of pages of Hawaii. I looked them up in Scott's and there was nothing too special.

I broke them into two lots and one sold for $25 or something. The other sold for almost $300 or so and I couldn't figure out what I had missed.

I asked the buyer and he admitted one of the town canx was quite scarce and my second lot contained only the (insert less than 5 or something) known copy with that canx.

He explained there are rabid Hawaii collectors that collect canx by town, by island, etc.

I have zippo info on the above stamp, but suspect it may be something along those lines?

There is one such rabid collector in a club I attend. He does by city as well. He also complains about how high thing sell at auction. Hawaii is active. However, other than the MC, there is no discernible city name shown, perhaps the black cancel delineates one.

Shade? Considering there are currently nearly 20 on ebay mint and used,including a Maltese cross, only two people know, the winner and the underbdder. An answer will be interesting.

Perhaps it has to do with the color of the cancel ... just a guess though.
Nope ... just checked ebay & all the Maltese crosses are the same as yours.

Sometimes two collectors just want a stamp…..