Lot
1304 
Post Office Dept., 1873, 3¢ black, huge margins with straddle s.e. at left and part of arrow, cancelled by three-ring "2" cancel duplexed with "Washington D.C., Nov 1 1881" duplex on mourning cover with "Post Office Department, Washington. D.C." imprint to Wellsville N.Y., partial Nov. 8th arrival backstamp, Very Fine. Scott No. O49 Estimate $1,000 - 1,500.
A RARE OFFICIAL POST OFFICE MOURNING COVER, WHICH WAS USED AFTER THE DEATH OF PRESENT GARFIELD.
The Post Office Department use this wide band mourning envelope during the Nation's period of mourning following the death of President James A. Garfield (1831-1881), who was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker, at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881. After eleven weeks of intensive and other care Garfield died in Elberon, New Jersey. He was the second of four Presidents to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln.
Realized: $1,800