I'd like to focus on your statement of where to start - design an immediately appropriate data base.
I could have done this years ago. It is, in fact, where I started. There is a difficult concept to wrestle with embedded in it however. "Appropriate". If I had done this myself, I could have catalogue'd my rather sparse collection. This would have been helped me when I went shopping, but wasn't going to tell me what I wanted to know from a catalogue. My first question was - So how many RoseCraft cachets are there?
What we have in the Gallery IS a catalogue - of the cover collections of the ten or so people who have uploaded images. It is backed by a database, and is searchable by any or all of the items you mentioned - as long as the people putting them in entered the information. So if all you want to do is search, all we need to do is update all of the descriptions.
Where I have run into problems is figuring out what this is to be a catalog of. My inclination is the envelope with the interesting part being the cachet. The stamps on it are incidental. You referenced this problem when you asked if is was possible to design a typology where the same generic image has the same design number for all stamp issues for which it was used. To my mind the purpose of the catalogue is to provide a unique identifier for each cachet.
I have had discussions with others who feel that it is not a FDC if it does not have postage and a correctly dated cancellation. I agree with this as a definition of a FDC, but not with what the catalogue is able to deal with.
Pricing actually helps with the discussion. A 'Cachet' catalogue can provide a complete listing of all known cachets, and provide unique numbering. It cannot provide prices unless it deals with many other variables - actual stamps used, their configuration, cancellation types, placement, clarity, city and a host of other factors (I saw one cover commanding a premium for being signed by someone relevant to the subjecct). If someone wants to produce a price list or catalogue their own collection, the 'Cachet' catalogue number should be sufficient to describe the cachet and the rest is up to the particular use of that list or catalogue.
Even assuming that we are talking about cachets and not covers, I'm still not clear on "Appropriate". I see one use of the catalogue as being the definitive source for a catalogue number. The basic uses I see are:
Look up a catalogue number. This means you have a number from a sales / auction catalogue or your want/have list and you need to find out something about that cachet. Enter the number - see a cover and the associated information.
Search for a catalogue entry for a given cachet. You have a cover in hand and want to determine what the catalogue number is so you can put it up for sale, describe it in your collection notes or reference it in an article.
Update the catalogue with a new entry. Once you have searched unsuccessfully, it would be useful to be able to add an entry into the catalogue. This would mean providing sufficient information that any other searches would locate the cachet and avoid duplicates.
Researching. This can take many forms. Looking for cachets with characteristics to see if it exists for one. Looking for all of the cachets that share some attribute (from maker to a design element).
Browsing. If there is enough supplementary information about each cachet, simply paging through the catalogue.
If we want to determine the "appropriate" elements to track in the database, I think we need to discuss the uses of the catalogue. This board is a good place for this and other similar discussions.
What is appropriate?
I'd like to focus on your statement of where to start - design an immediately appropriate data base.
I could have done this years ago. It is, in fact, where I started. There is a difficult concept to wrestle with embedded in it however. "Appropriate". If I had done this myself, I could have catalogue'd my rather sparse collection. This would have been helped me when I went shopping, but wasn't going to tell me what I wanted to know from a catalogue. My first question was - So how many RoseCraft cachets are there?
What we have in the Gallery IS a catalogue - of the cover collections of the ten or so people who have uploaded images. It is backed by a database, and is searchable by any or all of the items you mentioned - as long as the people putting them in entered the information. So if all you want to do is search, all we need to do is update all of the descriptions.
Where I have run into problems is figuring out what this is to be a catalog of. My inclination is the envelope with the interesting part being the cachet. The stamps on it are incidental. You referenced this problem when you asked if is was possible to design a typology where the same generic image has the same design number for all stamp issues for which it was used. To my mind the purpose of the catalogue is to provide a unique identifier for each cachet.
I have had discussions with others who feel that it is not a FDC if it does not have postage and a correctly dated cancellation. I agree with this as a definition of a FDC, but not with what the catalogue is able to deal with.
Pricing actually helps with the discussion. A 'Cachet' catalogue can provide a complete listing of all known cachets, and provide unique numbering. It cannot provide prices unless it deals with many other variables - actual stamps used, their configuration, cancellation types, placement, clarity, city and a host of other factors (I saw one cover commanding a premium for being signed by someone relevant to the subjecct). If someone wants to produce a price list or catalogue their own collection, the 'Cachet' catalogue number should be sufficient to describe the cachet and the rest is up to the particular use of that list or catalogue.
Even assuming that we are talking about cachets and not covers, I'm still not clear on "Appropriate". I see one use of the catalogue as being the definitive source for a catalogue number. The basic uses I see are:
If we want to determine the "appropriate" elements to track in the database, I think we need to discuss the uses of the catalogue. This board is a good place for this and other similar discussions.