US Postal Card 1903 McKinley Assassination Commemorative NY Madison NJ For Sale

This is a United States Postal Card, Scott Catalogue number UX18, issued following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 and postmarked in New York City on January 19, 1903. The printed stamp features the engraved portrait of McKinley (1843–1901) within a decorative oval frame, a somber commemorative issue that remained in circulation during the early years of the Progressive Era. The card’s paper stock exhibits uniform age-toning and scattered foxing spots, with slight rounding at the corners consistent with its age and handling. The dark, legible postmark overlaps the stamp area, a common occurrence given the card’s standard layout. The handwritten address, executed in an elegant and highly legible cursive script, directs the card to C. O. Manchester, identified as a “Manufacturer of Box” in Madison, New Jersey. A small pencil notation in the bottom right corner, “UX18-24,” appears to be a later collector’s reference to the Scott number. The verso carries a brief, separate message dated the same day: “Please call to Frank Bros 1312 3-rd ave.” This note, while terse, provides a glimpse into the transactional nature of turn-of-the-century urban communication, where a postal card served as a rapid and inexpensive method for relaying business instructions. The card’s design, with its reserved spaces for postmark and address, reflects the standardized format mandated by the United States Postal Service for postal cards, distinct from the privately printed picture postcards that were simultaneously gaining popularity. The McKinley issue, produced in vast quantities, remains a tangible artifact of national mourning and the early mechanization of postal communication, with this example offering a direct connection to the commercial life of New York City and the New Jersey suburbs in January 1903.