Hello everyone! I just nerded hard, and I'm so very excited about it I want to share! So I'm still a new ancient collector and I don't know if you've noticed, but ancient collectors keep track of a lot of information about their coins like: ruler, dates they ruled, material the coin was made from, denomination, size, weight, orientation of the designs, mint location, date minted, obverse legend, obverse description, reverse legend, reverse description, numismatic reference...I know I'm probably missing some. Anyway, all these different fields began to overwhelm me. I'm used to military trade tokens. They're organized by country, state (if U.s.), installation, and then denomination (generally). That works for Excel, ancients do not. Anyway, I spent some time and actually learned how to do some stuff with MS Access and it's amazing! I record my coin's info and now can view my coins by ruler, reverse type, size, whatever! Next I'll be working on my military trade tokens (just because) then challenge coins, and MPCs. It was a great learning experience and I think collectors would benefit greatly by learning to use this program. So...maybe a picture?
I really need to get organized like that. All of my coins are attributed and recorded, but I'm using the FORVM gallery to store all my data. I'll have to give Access a try, thanks for the tip!
I am trying to be able to go through and list which empire at least the coins came from. Its sad, about half of my boxes simply say "Byzantine" on the flips, and I have tons I haven't go that far. I haven't used Access in over a decade, but yeah, if you had a copy its much better than using Excel. Much more robust and versatile.
I see far too many coins here and elsewhere that I want to add to my collection but I never keep track! Well...just added a wish list to my data base. It's starting to get serious here! I'm tracking the seller, ruler, legends, description, type, reference, cost, and any relevant notes.
Educate yourself, read about coins and history. If a coin is meant to be owned by you it will be. Way too many coins to choose from to stress over "needing" any particular one. Besides, the fun is in the chase.....
@Jwt708 I think you replied to a post I made about tracking store inventory, and I even think you suggested ms acces....hmmm, maybe I oughtta lok at access. I was starting to think mysql, but if I do that, then I have to write a front end and create all the sql queries. Hmm much to think about.
I would agree with writing it in Access versus SQL unless you simply are a SQL guru. Access has limitations, but much easier to write in for small databases. Even my pile of coins would still be a tiny database in comparison.
No argument here. I'll see something I like, put it to the back of my mind, then I can't remember what it was! I'm just trying to get good at this program. We use it at work as a log book but the database originally created has some issues. I'm trying to learn it not only for my collection but to make a new database for work. It's actually been a pretty fun venture so far. I also get to "play" with my collections! Next up will be learning to import data from Excel (my token spreadsheet) then creating reports for tokens I have by country, state, base...maybe date...Just nerdy fun.
I would agree on ease of use and simplicity. My only thinking on using mysql dB is its free, open source, and could potentially lead to a free software for coin dealers to manage the inventory. Free with ads that is, a small cost to remove them
