Is Anyone Else Totally OCD About Their Collection?!

My collection doesn't consume my life, I just like to look at it from time to time. If I don't look at it, what good is having it? I just really don't want to drop a silver coin down in the cushions of my recliner, never to find it again. Tell me, would you like to wad up a $5 bill and just toss it in the trash? I am guessing not.

Trust me, I think about bills such as rent, power, cable, and food a lot more often than I think about my collection.

 

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i wouldnt say im OCD, but my wife allready thinks i am
because i constantly remake and my spreadsheet (think im on version 20 allready, it never is perfect enough for me ), or because the first thing i do after my computer is turned on is check this forum, or that even when the mailman has delivered the mail allready i still go and check the mailbox about 1 0times a day to check if something i ordered came behind.
Thats not OCD right? Thats just being busy with a hobby.
Or am i wrong?

 

Denial is a classic sign you have a problem!

I wasn't signaling anyone out, I was just talking in general. Also, life is more fun if you don't worry about bills as well, unless of course your strapped for cash and have a hard time paying for such things.

 

I have a pretty good memory, so I know if someone has messed with my stuff be it coins or even taking movies off my shelves. I tend not to worry too much about them or any other materialistic items. In the end, does it really matter?

 

I’m really more of a hoarder than someone with OCD. Even the stuff I buy for investment purposes never seems to be sold. I’m sort of like the government. My philosophy is; Why buy 1 when you can buy 2 for twice the price?

 

Two best ways I know on how to apportion cost. One, if you bought the lot for just one or a few coins, apportion the cost to them, and the rest are "free". Second method if you truly bought the lot for the lot, is to add up value of all coins, (lets say yours is valued at $240 as a group), the take your purchase price divided by the value times each coins value. Example, say one of those coins were valued at $20, you would say $200/240*20=$16.66 "cost".

Yeah, I am an accountant. Like Rodeoclown advocates though, I collect for fun not profit, so I "let my accounting hair down' so to speak when it comes to my collecting. It would be a busman's holidya to do all of the stuff you guys do for your collection for me. I do way too many spreadsheets daily to want to do them for a hobby.

 

I'd probably put the V-Nicks down at an even per cost basis, so 200/160 is your cost per. I bought around 300 silver dimes a couple months back for $500, averaged them out to my average cost per, which was like, $1.67 each.

medo, I spend maybe 2 minutes a day on mine.

 

For these, i would only take up a couple rows on my spreadsheet. Split them up into lower grade and higher grade rolls and simply list it by the approximate value per roll of forty. 160/40=4 rolls so 4 rows. Id keep the rows together so info could be added that pertained to all of them.
These only average a couple bucks a piece. Theres no way you can waste time and space on a spreadsheet documenting low value coins for pages and pages. Its just not worth it for the effort and too overwhlelming for most.


As for the original post, I may be a little like that. I do remember where alot of stuff came from and what i have to some extent. But I do have a good spreadsheet. After 4 years of collecting Im at the point where I forget about stuff i own and a few worn war nickels are unaccounted for.

Im probably more OCD over protecting them. I started with a safe. Got a bigger safe. Then got a bigger safe. Just got a bigger safe now that cost upwards of $3k. It may seem like thats the end but i could see buying one more bigger one down the road.

 

Exactly. Cause one day, when you're dead (which is gonna happen if you like it or not), all your possessions no longer matter.

 

Even though I have a good memory of where I got my coins and price paid I try not to let it consume me. I do keep a Excel spreadsheet of what I have and a hand written list so I don't buy doubles. If anything I'm more concerned with protecting my coins. I use different storage methods, holders, etc. for more valuable coins and another method for cheaper stuff. And of course they have to be organized.

 

I've been collecting coins for about 50 years, and have never "bought" a coin. Unless you count buying a coin out of the till at work. Never paid more than face value for anything I have.

Most of the coins I collected myself were just pulled from pocket change, or like I said, from the till during my 8 years of tending bar, at a VERY BUSY Nightclub I might say!!!!

Then, my Sister passed away back in 2007, and she had inherited my Dad's Coin Collection. The Brother-in-Law gave me Her and Dad's Collection, and I don't know how many coins they may have added through "buying" them. My Sister worked her life as a Teller at a Bank, so I'm guessing she "bought" her part of the collection from her drawer as well. Dad however, may have bought a lot of his stuff, as he has some nice stuff from the 1800's, long before he was born in 1921.

Plus, my family was all born in Liverpool England, and my Dad had a LOAD of US Silver Dollars and Half Dollars.

I am currently working on an inventory of the now, 3 combined collections, and just a rough estimate would put the number over 2000, maybe even over 3000. I know right off I myself have collected close to 400 bicentennial quarters. Not counting the pennies, nickels, dimes, halves, silver dollars, Canadian coins, etc...

Reading this thread has given me some ideas about how to keep records going forward, so I won't have to pull the coins out every time I find a new entry.

Robert

 

I have a Mac and use a program called Bento. It's basically a database program for people who don't want to learn how to create databases lol. I can add text boxes, drop down menus, or media fields very easily. There is even a template exchange so if you dont' want to create your own template you can download one. I use this app to maintain my inventory. I have my inventory separated by country.

 

I use the free Heritage Galleries Program and keep a detailed list of all items. My collection is heavy into classic coins but there are many exceptions. Therefor they all have been purchased. I don't buy or save coins, or paper currency, that are valued at less than $10, but my normal minimum is $25. I don't make multiple or lot purchases because it can tie up my funds on too many items I don't want. Then there is the agrivation of liquidating them. Since the collection is part of an inheritance to my children, documentation is a must. Also, the spreadsheet program is complete with photographs, so I can leave them all in the bank safety deposit box but still enjoy looking at them.

 

That being your philosophy, I'll be glad to take that pesky coin collection off your hands. No charge!