1c Brown on Buff, Postal Card (UX1; USPCC S1). Cancelled by "New York May 13, 1:30 PM" First Day of Issue circular datestamp and negative "2" cork cancel, addressed to Miss Hannah Sampson in South Duxbury Mass., with message "New York 10am May 13th 1873, This is the first card of the first lot of Postal cards, issued in the country from the New York post office. Please preserve it as a record of another business and social advance step" and initialed, some toning or soiling

VERY FINE NEW YORK FIRST DAY USE OF THE FIRST POSTAL CARD ISSUE. A GREAT RARITY.

According to the United States Postal Card Catalogue, for at least the first 50 years of postal card use, little attention was paid to observance of "first-day use" as we now know it. Even if an official first day of issue was announced, few cards, if any, were actually made available to the public on that day. In the case of the UX1, this was issued in Springfield Mass. on May 12, 1873 (one is known used on that day). Supplies reached Boston, Hartford, New York and Washington on the following day, which is the earliest known use from those cities. Fewer than ten are known to exist cancelled on May 13.

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