Claude
The cachet features a black engraved-style portrait of Dr. Ephraim McDowell with his signature 'E.M. Dowell' beneath, alongside an illustration of his residence and office building with people gathered outside. Text in an oval reads 'who performed the first successful abdominal operation to be recorded anywhere at Danville, Kentucky in 1809.' The stamp is a 4-cent rose/carmine US postage stamp depicting McDowell's portrait, canceled with a machine slogan cancel reading 'FIRST DAY OF ISSUE' alongside a circular date stamp from Danville, KY dated Dec 3, 1959. The cover is in excellent condition with no visible soiling or creases.
Mistral
This First Day Cover features a cachet with a black-and-white engraved portrait of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, along with an illustration of his residence and office. The stamp, issued in his honor, depicts McDowell in a red-violet color with the denomination '4¢'. The postmark is a circular machine cancellation from Danville, KY, dated December 3, 1959. The cover is in good condition with clear artwork and text, including a note explaining McDowell's historical achievement in medicine.
(The automatic summaries sometimes misidentify the postmark as part of the cachet artwork.)
