Just starting out: 2 general questions

I recently joined CoinTalk and in my "Greetings" post, a few people have mentioned that they'd love to see photos of both sides of my world coin collection (inherited from my grandfather).

This made me feel kind of good since I just joined and people want to see my collection. So, I began cataloging my world coins. Because, I really have no idea what I have. I mean, I looked at a few, but there are a lot (to me) in the jar....

I've been using Microsoft Excel to catalog all the world coins that I have (as well as US State Quarters, US America the Beautiful series, "older" US pennies, $2 bills, etc) that I seem to have started collecting.

My question is: Is an Excel spreadsheet a good way of cataloging coin collections like this? I'm sure there are software packages out there that would do a superb job, but I'll be honest: I'm cheap. I already use Excel regularly for other things. I figured that I could use a worksheet for each type of currency to help keep things organized. Who else uses Excel for cataloging?

My second question is: how does one go about photographing the coins in their collection? Do you photograph EVERY coin? This seems to be an overwhelming task to me (and I haven't even started yet). It's taking a while to catalog my coins. I can't imagine the time it would take to photograph each one, too.

So I guess my purpose of this thread is to ask a general overall question: HOW did you tackle such a seemingly giant task?? Maybe it's because I haven't been doing this one by one over the last few years. I inherited a jar full of coins all at once. So far I cataloged 152 coins (17 countries, dated between 1920 and 2003), and I don't think I've even looked at 1/3 of them yet.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to quit. I guess I want to hear how you would handle this.

Thanks for reading.

((Moderators: I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, so if it is not, please move to the appropriate area.))

 

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It seems to me that the two most important criteria for a coin-cataloguing package are:

1) You can figure out how to use it.
2) You will use it.

I'd say that if you understand Excel, it's a fine choice. You're more likely to stick with it, and you're more likely to figure out a solution if you get stuck or confused. And if you do eventually decide that a "coin app" sounds attractive, I'll bet most of them can import Excel spreadsheets.

How do I tackle such a seemingly giant task? Lots of random piles, and denial. Even though I've been doing it for several years now, I'm still almost completely unorganized. I worry about it sometimes. I do something about it almost never.

 

Here's something to think about - how to eat an elephant (or something huge). You got to start from somewhere small bit by bit. Because everyone has different ways of organizing, I guess you take what you can and suit it to your purpose.

I personally am not a big fan of excel for this. I catalog them in the computer and organize them in folders by countries, year, denomination, i.e. C:\coins\US\1940\5cents - you get the idea. I've photographed more than 5000+ coins and have uploaded to omnicoin. It's just sheer perseverance. It's not impossible and definitely doable.

 

Excel will work great if you're familiar with it. As for pictures, first learn about what coins are worth. There's no point in taking pictures of every coin, only the more uncommon ones.

If you haven't already, look into picking up a copy of the Krause Catalog. With the dates you mentioned you'll just need 2 volumes, 1900 to 2000 and 2000 to date. You can buy the other 3 for 1600 to 1900 later. Just remember that most of the prices in it aren't accurate, so just use it to catalog the coins.

 

for now, just do the most interesting looking coins.... hopefully older coins.

 

Welcome to the neighborhood @dave_in_delaware !

Since you said that you're cheap, why don't you take a look at this program? It's free!

http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

Chris

 

I'm cheap as well. Creating an Excel spreadsheet from where I sit is just to much work. For 30 or 40 bucks I bought: http://www.libertystreet.com/Coin-Collecting-Software.htm

Another 30 or 40 bucks for pictures, done.

 

Photographing coins is half the fun of collecting. It really does take a lot of practice and patience to become good at it. If you are like me, you will discover that coins in the upper grades are far more interesting once photographed, than lower grade material, and you will become attracted to better material as a result. Preservation isn't everything, but worn coins just aren't as much fun even if extremely rare.

 

You may find Worldcoingallery.com a free and helpful site to get started identifing your world coins, U.S. too. I use Excel for making lists and sheets. I copy it to a flash drive for a backup. As for pictures I am still experimenting with the things i already have for now.
By the yard its hard, By the inch it's a cinch.

 

I use Excel for my token collection and didn't start it until I had well over 100. It was a big job. Now my token collection approaches 400 and I only have about 130 of them photographed.

 

Yes, I use Excel for my collection. There are software packages to catalogue collections, but they are generally very US focused and not very good. If you have a world coin collection, I'd stick to excel. The customization is important here as well.

And yes, I photograph every coin in my collection.

 

I use Excel for my paper money collection. The best part is,you can configure it to your liking. I started cataloging when I had quite a few so it took awhile to enter everything. Now it's a snap.

 

Wow. Thank you everyone for your insight, encouragement, and suggestions! I appreciate that very much.

I looked into some of the software links and I may one day "upgrade" to a program that organizes things in a better, more professional way. But for now, I'll finish cataloging my coins in Excel (since I'm about 2/3 of the way into now anyway).

As for photographing the individual coins, I'll stick with only doing the older or more interesting ones, or ones that have a special error, etc. That way it doesn't feel like such an overwhelming task at first.

BUT, I thought that maybe once I finish cataloging the coins in Excel, I would take a "group photo" by country in order to get an overall "feel" of the country's collection. Granted, some may only be 2 coins, but the largest may be over 100.

As for photography equipment, I have a digital camera and a tripod, and I do have some experience with photographing objects on a table. So I may stick with that for the "group photos." I do like that eFlex microscope idea though. I may invest in one of those in the near future since it's available locally to me for a little under $40.

Thanks again for everyone's input. This isn't feeling like such a huge task to me anymore.

 

If you are comfortable with Excel, then by all means, go with it. Occasionally collectibles ( coins, stamps, comics, records )freeware and shareware programs pop up on Tucows. You might check their site and browse around a bit too see what they have. Freeware is free but is usually limited basic programs. Shareware is usually cheap and those programs have more meat to them.

 

Welcome dind...make it a fun project and just do 1 or 2 at a time.

 

Excel works good, sorting, etc. Photographing is a big job. Many here use a smart phone, some use digital cameras, some are photography nuts (forgive me, I'm just jealous of your pics). The PhotoScape program has served me well. A tripod is/isn't a good idea. You want to take photos of coins generally at 90 degrees to the surface, and this would be more the province of a photo stand rather than a tripod. Experiment until you get what you are comfortable with and is at least decent, anything beyond that is up to you. Enjoy.

 

Sites for coin collections with photos, etc.
Take a look at Numista http://en.numista.com/
or Ucoin http://en.ucoin.net/catalog
or CoinCat http://www.coincat.com/imageidentifier.php
for example. I use Numista as I had about 500+ world coins to ID and found it useful. It exports to excel, nice! Thus, I can sort out and detail specific sections such as US large cents, for example


I use the following to ID my coins: Colnect http://colnect.com
Coincat: http://www.coincat.com/imageidentifier.php
World Coin Gallery: http://worldcoingallery.com/index.php
the combination of the above usually provides an answer 95%+ of the time.

Enjoy, Steve

 

Hi TJ1952. Does this microscope work well for coins?

 

I use Excel for my commems and I do photog each one.

@cpm9ball .......Chris, when did Photoscape ad the raw converter? Not that I need it as my Nikon program does it too.

 

Yes, it good enough for what I use it for. Here are some examples: