Readers that know this website well know the tendencies of my 1898 collecting interests. Those interests have not, so far, included proprietary handstamp cancels. The proprietary printed cancels are another matter, and there are many examples of those on this site, and in the future, likely to be many more.
Bob Mustacich's Battleship Revenue Stamps site
After being away from the hobby and the site for several years it is exciting to see some of the new work that is going on in the 1898 world, particularly regarding the handstamped proprietaries. Bob Mustacich's Battleship Desk Reference (BDR) has been a go to guide for identifying cancels on the proprietary stamps over the years. But a new project called BDR2 is now underway, led by Bob and a host of contributors including Malcolm Goldstein, Timothy Kohler, Paul Reese, Frank Sente, and Duane Skeen. The new BDR, currently under development and available online, includes images and historical information, providing for a richer experience when viewing and using the database. The historical emphasis of the 1898 Revenues blog, and the work of Malcolm Goldstein that started online here, can now be found in a more rigorous database. Thanks to all of you working on this.
Navigation to the site is not immediately evident for now when going to Bob's site. The best way to find it is to click on the U.S. Revenue Stamps tab at the top of the page. You will get a drop down that includes the above directory if you click on Proprietary, then Battleships, then BDR2. A shortcut is here.
A synopsis of the project is available and a link to the database called "Directory". Once you click on Directory you can find material like that below.
I'm just getting familiar with this new site and project. More later as I begin to link it to some of the work I expect to do here at 1898 Revenues.
