Battleship Desk Reference Version 2 (BDR2)
BDR2 is a large compilation of hand stamped and printed cancels on the 1898 proprietary revenue stamps indexed alphabetically by the cancels.
While most cancels are acronyms of the user, when names or other information are contained in a cancel, these are simply converted to acronyms for use as an index. For example,
the cancel "A. C. M. & CO." would have an index ACM&Co where any form of "CO", "Co", or "Company" is simply represented by "Co". For example,
the cancel "THE COCA COLA CO." would be indexed as TCCCo since "The" is part of the cancel. The tables were developed in conjunction with the Pharmaceutical ERA trade
directories from the years 1898, 1899, and 1902, volumes 6, 7, and 9, respectively. Every row in
the table has a unique "record" number assigned to it that is in the "#" column after the Index. In instances where there are many rows sharing the same index, a specific row can be
referenced by including the record number with the index (e.g., ACM&Co-195). Following the name, city, and state columns, the Pg and S columns refer to page and volume (source) references
to the Pharmaceutical ERA trade directories. Other reference
sources are the Chappell/Joyce listings of printed cancellations on proprietary battleships (source "1"), and international wine competitors from the era (source "0"). The Business/product
column contains a letter designation: M (Manufacturing), W (Wholesale), R (Retail), A (Agent), or a combination
of these followed by the business line or names of principle products if a manufacturer or agent. A shorthand was developed to describe the large range of cancel types. A guide to
this shorthand is in the U.S. Revenue Stamps selection in the main menu, under Proprietary, then Battleships, then BDR2, or click
BDR2 Cancel Shorthand. Following the cancel description column are
columns for the twelve
denominations of proprietary battleships. These columns are in the color of the stamp denomination and bear an H, P, or X for hand stamped, printed, or perfin cancels observed on the different
denominations. Clicking on the "Image" button on a page of the table toggles on a pair of final columns, one with images of canceled stamps, and a final column in which all of the images
are links to files with additional information on the companies and their products.
The entire table is alphabetized by index, and the button choices at the top and bottom of a page in the table will (in the order shown on the page): jump to different letters;
select between displaying 20, 30 or 40 entries per page; toggle images on and off in the final two columns; and advance (>) or reverse (<) a single page at a time.