Battleship Desk Reference (BDR) - Its Indexing
The BDR 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 a cancel consists of names or other
information, such names are simply converted to acronyms to use as an index for the cancel. 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 simplicity in the database. For example, the cancel "THE COCA COLA CO." would be indexed
as TCCCo since "The" is part of the cancel.
Table Contents
The tables were developed in conjunction with digitizing the contents of
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 wine companies sourced to this era (source "0").
The Business/product column contains a letter designation: M (Manufacturing), W (Wholesale), R (Retail), A (Agent),
I (Importer) or a combination of these followed by the business line or names of principle products.
In the next column, a shorthand was developed to describe the large range of cancel types. A guide to this shorthand is here:
BDR 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.
Table Navigation
The entire table is alphabetized by index, and a graphic illustration of the navigation can be viewed here:
BDR Navigation.