Two Storage Questions

This is what I'm worried about for cataloging. I'm not quite sure how I will keep them organized and have a reference to empty flips I'll still keep in folders. Only thing I can think of is numbered stickers next to each coin on the wood.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

the unwieldiness and potential of how to catalog them in the trays is one thing that has king of kept me from going that way myself. mine are just in coin boxes in 2x2 non-pvc flips with a paper insert (not touching coin...other side of flip). i'm interested in seeing your setup when you get done IAT .

 

I thought about a cabinet or trays, but was unsure how to keep track of what was where. And Lord help me, if I dropped a tray.

For my catalog, I use MS Excel Spreadsheet. It makes it easy to add, delete, insert, and find what I'm looking for. I've added images into the document beside each entry. For me, it was the only way to go with 669 coins/listings.

 

I dropped a tray! 80 coins and 80 labels. It took me ages to cross reference the coin, the label, against a photograph. Now, on the front of the label I have the inventory number and name of the emperor (or whatever is on the obverse) and a very brief description on the back of the label of the reverse. But best not to drop the tray.

 

True, but it is good to learn your coins well enough that you can separate all the labels and reassemble them in a certain amount of time without references. (Got that idea from the Army and rifles in basic training.) You need enough on your label that you can separate similar coins or you need to stop buying so many similar coins. Some of my Septimius coins have 'o/c left' or 'dark' or 'bright' on the label (back of it works) to separate similar items. When I broke down the trays, I put the labels in the paper envelopes with the coin. They were made on 65 pound acid free, lignin free cardstock available at office supply stores. Paper cutters are cheap now but my wife says she married me because I owned one in the 1960's (for photography use) and not all schoolteachers had access to one.

 

Your wife must be a gem, but her bar seems rather low. My wife married me cause she was too young to know better.

 

We still use that paper cutter. Always buy quality when selecting a lifetime paper cutter.

 

I keep all my coins in 2x2 SAFLIPs in boxes like these


Each coin has a small tag printed out that I keep in the second pocket of the flip which on the front has time period, area(i.e. "Roman Republic", "Roman Empire"), ruler/moneyer if applicable, denomination and dimensions, catalog numbers, provenance and on the back has a full ID like I would post on here. I also keep all previous collection tags and dealer/auction tags in there when possible, but I have them scanned in and kept with other information in that coin's folder on my OneDrive as well.

Actually, speaking of said information, if someone has a copy of SNG Levante or that catalog of Vecchi Sale 3 from 1996 that they'd be willing to scan a page or two from for my documentation, I'd be eternally grateful.

 

I also use an Excel spreadsheet. It seems like it would be easy enough to add a location cell to each entry - drawer 3, column 4, row 7 (or something like that). You look in the spreadsheet, decide you want to study a coin, and you instantly know where to go to find it. You could add the same thing to a tag, in case you dropped it (3-4-7 for short).

 

Exactly! That's how my spread sheet looks. One cell gives location code like 2/3/4/5, meaning book 2, page 3, row 4, column 5. Seems rather easy to me and it works well.

 

Bah! Access is so much more powerful and isn't that hard to use. I was going to use Excel but I just didn't think it could do what I wanted it too.

 

All,
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. A few of my coins started exhibiting discoloration in what I am sure were new non-PVC flips. I suspect that these changes might have been caused by the cedar lining of the cigar box since cedar contains oils that make it valuable for use as shingles as well as for repelling moths. For practicality, I'm leaning towards the 2X2 SAFLIPS that Red_Spork posted earlier in this thread.

 

Have lighthouse flocked coin trays (2x2), and metal rolling cabinet to show off. Would love a mahogany cabinet. LOL, terrified of the @TIF experience of dropping tray. But, I think I would offer her Sushi and single malt scotch, neat, if she would come sort them for me. (See her recent posting in the Birthday thread),

For everyday, I use littleton ancients albums, pages, dessicant pages. 6 open flips (safeflips) per page, so that you can see both sides of coin, and as an open flip, be able to read both sides of paper insert.

Used Excel, but in process of developing an MS Access database (looking for attribute ideas that you have experience and works). My Excel database bogs down (heavy excel user in business, but it is not working on my ancients).

 

Pish was the one who told the dropped tray story... but if I used trays, that would surely happen to me too .

I store coins the same way as @chrsmat71 and @red_spork: Saflips inside long narrow coin boxes.

 

OMG @TIF and @Pishpash, my apologies. I have been very diverted recently, and I guess I really fell asleep at the wheel! I reckon I owe you BOTH a Sushi and Scotch, neat (BTW, my wife's name is Suse, and my Grandkids call her Sushi!)

 

Thanks Ale. I just added three things to my Access - photo Y/N, reshoot Y/N, and photo notes. So now I can also quickly pull up all of my coins that are photographed, which ones need to be reshot, and any notes about it. Ya...I get bored.