1898 Revenues: Railroad Cancels: 1898-1902 Components of the BNSF -- Part1: The Burlingtons

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Railroad Cancels: 1898-1902 Components of the BNSF -- Part1: The Burlingtons

The BNSF is one of the largest railway systems in the United States today. It is made up of many former independent railways, many of which were viable and some of the greatest business in the United States during the Spanish American War tax period. This entry and coming entries will explore some of these independent railway components that would one day make up the BNSF.

This is the current BNSF route map. Many of the redlines on this map represent components of the mainlines of the following railroads, some of which will be represented by cancels on 1898 series documentary stamps.

Above is the logo or herald for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad was one of the greatest railroads in the midwest, and survived as an indpendent system until 1970. A CBQRR cancel is included at the end of this post.

This stamp displays a cancel for the Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railroad which was merged into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy in 1899.

Compare elements of the routes on this route map of the CBQRR with the current BNSF route map. The map dates from 1892, after the absorption of the Burlington and Missouri River RR by the CBQRR.

Above is a printed cancellation for the Burlington and Missouri River RR in Nebraska; below is a handstamp. In the 1870s the BMRRR was absorbed and taken over by the CBQRR though it continued to have a separate identity.

Below is a common printed cancellation for the CBQRR.

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Unusual Ink on the 1898 Series Dollar Values

THESE STAMPS ARE BOTH SCOTT R191! From fugitive ink to color changelings with unknown origins. These are both copies of R191. Can only exposure to light produce the color changes you see in stamp on the right? Or possibly a soak in bleach or other chemical? I doubt it. These stamps have so many examples of changelings that there must be something else happening. The ink used on this dark green series of stamps was different than that known on any other BEP printed stamps, never mind the varnish square. It is likely the BEP was experimenting with ink on this issue. Inks are discussed further if you click on the stamps.

Collecting Cancels

Welcome to 1898 Revenues, a website that features the stamps used to pay the Spanish-American war taxes imposed by the US Government starting in July, 1898. But while this site features those stamps in general, a focus is on their cancels, and on the firms that applied them. Unlike US postage stamps, which were canceled by the US Post Office and now Postal Service, revenue stamps were ordered to be canceled by their users in such a way that the identity of the user and the date was included in the cancel. This makes the collecting possibilities nearly endless, so that a single variety of stamp, for example, the 2 cent battleship stamp intended to pay documentary taxes, had potentially millions of different users, and therefore as many different cancels. Please browse the site and discover the collecting possibilities, made so much more accessible now through online sales. Cancels on these stamps have become much more interesting and accessible with the massive amounts of archival and historical data available on line. Rather than hours spent in libraries or with heavy volumes to identify cancels, search engines allow for cancel sleuthing at home.

Battleship Proprietary Printed Cancels: Updating the Joyce/Chappell Lists

In the 1950s, Morton Dean Joyce updated a list of printed cancels on the battleship proprietaries compiled by Clarence Chappell. Joyce's is a very long list consisting of more than one hundred companies and thousands of cancel dates. In the years since Joyce completed his list, many new cancel dates have been demonstrated to exist, and an update of the 1950s list is needed.

This site is attempting that update. Using the Joyce/Chappell lists and the former collection of Henry Tolman (ARA #25) as a base, a gradual effort will be made to post updated lists to the best of my knowledge, making a call for those that can contribute new dates and new images of those cancels.

Following in this column are quick links to excel files of these lists by company. Also are links to the posts that I have made on this blog regarding these companies and their cancels.