Attribution Labels/Cards, Any Thoughts?

The "How do you store your ancients?" thread got me thinking about attribution labels and cards...

I am in the process of creating a database of our ancient coins and will be revising the information included on our attribution cards. I am curious to see how everyone here prefers to do their cards and if there are any general rules of thumb regarding what should or shouldn't be included on them.

Thanks

 

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in the arc of the covenant

 

i put the basics on labels with each coin in a clear 2x2 flip, stored in 20 pocket, 3 ring binder pages and full attribution such as found on Wildwinds on file on my PC...

 

That's a great system really I don't do raw coins much

 

all my ancients are raw, and if i bought one encapsulated i would bust it out.. can only afford low budget coins so no need for them to be graded..

 

that's a good set up ken. sometimes i'll mention items depicted on the devices if it's not obvious and where/when i purchased the coin as well. i wish i would have added the dates sooner than i did.

 

i also keep an Excel file for them where i list everything above plus date purchased, from who, how much paid and any other relevant info...

 

I use a similar system as Ken, but I print on card stock for durability.

 

Here is what I use:

I cut these out and then fold down the center and place in the other pocket of a 2-pocket flip. On the left side is the "at a glance" info with provenance and all and then the other side is a full ID like I might post here with an image. Sometimes there will be some handwritten notes of mine as well(i.e. die match to ... or similar) for information that I found after printing and was too lazy to reprint my tag with.

 

I do something similar to Ken only hand written. I also save any original cards or tickets with each coin if they came with any.

 

This is a good point. I keep this information(And actively seek out any additional provenance) for coins I buy and then provide it all to buyers when I sell as well. The reality is that cultural property laws will likely get stronger and new import restrictions in various places will be passed as time goes on, so this information will become more and more relevant.

 

I simply use Word to make my tags. I do the same thing with my inventory and my own coins. Two sided tags, one side obverse descriptions, the other the reverse. I simply cut them out and fold them over. For inventory it has an item number and price (as well as the obligatory source and website, price, etc), for my collection it will have provenance, etc. The tag size entirely depends on either one and what type or tray it will be going in to. Abafil trays one size, 2x2 flips another. Below will give an idea. I anyone wants the templates, I can shoot them off.

 

Oh, yea. Different ken!

 

I like to keep my coins in a series of 3-ring binders ... this allows me to add whatever info I feel improves the coin experience (in this particular case, I've added a sweet photo of the coin, all the usual coin-info and then I've added a blurb on the city where the coin was minted) ...

Because the coin is quite small, I find that the coin photo is very useful when showing or merely thumbing-through my collection.

=> each binder contains approximately 30-40 coins ... again, maybe it's not for everyone, but it works for me ...

 

Actually I may be in the minority here but I don't make labels. If my coin comes with one it stays. Otherwise it gets a small slip of paper that I put a catalog number on that cross references to my database. The goal was to have a hard copy of the database...but I fell behind...way behind. Maybe I'll print it instead...

 

I keep an excel database with exactly the same info as @red_spork. I save the tags from when I bought the coin, and put the coin back in the original flip when I sell the coin. The only time I create a tag is if the coin was sold to me without a tag; then I use Word to create the tag.

 

I keep a database (FileMaker Pro) but also try to put as much information as possible on the flip. Business cards with vanity logo, trimmed and folded in half, make a nice stiff insert and provide a place to put old provenance tags. Thin paper is difficult to insert and remove from stiff Saflips so this has been a good solution.

Although I've changed what I write and where, currently I'm leaning towards putting less information on the side of the card that shows, with more detailed information inside where there is more room to write.

 

This thread has moved in the direction I find most significant. Each must ask why they want the tags. Ken is a dealer and rightly crams a lot of information into a small space for easy transfer to the next owner of the coin. Steve has more information on a larger page. I have all of the information Ken uses but I keep it in the computer database. My tags with the coins have simple ID that would allow me to reunite coin and tag were they to be separated but they do not have all the details. The do include numbers important to me from my file system. Those are the sequential accession number and the order code number that will sort the coins in the order I desire (geographic for Greek, ruler and date for most). I have had to reorder this last number when I get too many similar coins so it can change but the first is the same as long as I own the coin. Sorting on the order number allows a computer report list of the collection which is what I carry to shows in my attempt to avoid buying thigs I already have. That is a problem when you have too many coins and have had some of them too long.

 

I am thinking about a slightly different presentation question, which is how to structure my computer catalog of my coins in the best way to enjoy my collection when except for new acquisitions it lives at my bank vault. I am currently playing with power point formats and trading off number of (related) coins per page with photo size and text space. Photos that are too large just highlight the inevitable flaws. One coin per page seems a little boring when many coins are related. Ideally I would get the best pages printed in one of those one off photo books you can have made cheaply now.

 

My tags are made from a template I found at a link below and I edit in Google Docs and print them out on sturdy cardstock paper I got at target. Cheap/easy & presents nice.

http://www.ancientpeddler.com/apgallery/thumbnails.php?album=113