1903 Budwell Pharmacal Co., Lynchburg, VA Reply Card

1903 United States Private Mailing Card with a #300 1 cent Benjamin Franklin stamp. The front of the card is addressed to the Budwell Pharmacal Co. at P.O. Drawer 259 in Lynchburg, Virginia. It features two circular postmarks: a dispatch mark from Long Creek, North Carolina, dated May 11, 1903, and a receiving mark from Lynchburg, Virginia, dated May 12, 1903, indicating a delivery time of just one day.

The reverse side of the card contains a printed form filled out by a medical practitioner requesting a free trial product. The order is signed by a physician, E. H. Matthew, M.D., whose post office is designated as Long Creek and express shipping office as Rocky Point, both located in North Carolina. The doctor is requesting one full-sized, 16-ounce bottle of Budwell’s Emulsion No. 2. This product was a widely distributed Norwegian cod liver oil supplement manufactured by the Budwell Pharmacal Co., a firm originally founded in 1891 to produce tonics aimed at treating respiratory ailments and “wasting diseases” like tuberculosis.