I got tired of looking up Civil War photographers when trying to attibute CDVs I was processing, so I have set up a page for doing exactly that:
http://www.revenue-collector.com/cg...ographer.cgiIt is based solely on items in my own collection, so as not to step on Bruce Baryla's CD that he sells online.
Since my collecting focus is on handstamped, printed, and stencil cancels rather than trying to be a completist with respect to the photographers themselves, the list on my site will never be exhaustive. For example, the only time you are likely to see photographers listed who used manuscript cancels is if I purchased a CDV for the stamp itself. I am not actively pursuing every photographer I do not have an example from, unless they used non-manuscript cancels.
The page is sorted by photographer, although you can toggle the columns to sort by city, state, or cancel type. A thumbnail of either the stamp or the back of the CDV containing the stamp is shown. I think I may add a column for the front side of the CDV showing the actual photo. Clicking on a photo opens the page about that item with more information and higher-resolution images.
One advantage my page has over a static reference is that over the course of time it will be updated (I have a shoebox full of CDVs that I haven't added to my website) and multiple examples of the same photographer will occasionally exhibit slight variances in the cancels, ink colors used, etc.
I purchased most of the better cancel items from Bruce when he liquidated his gold medal exhibit
The Civil War Sun Tax, so my hope is that the list will become at least somewhat comprehensive at least as far as non-manuscript photographer cancels.
P.S. I already see some data entry anomalies I need to fix... grr...
Posted 08/04/2014 10:15 am
