How Does Everyone Catalog Their Collection?

I have my own ideas of course, but I would like to hear from others how they are currently cataloging their own collections. I prefer to present mine in old fashioned sale catalog format, with a nice photo above and text below, probably in a word document. What information does everyone use? Also, I suppose I would have to number the coins in some manner, not that I care so much but for coins which have previous tags I would need to be able to locate those via a number.

 

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Cataloguing is not a huge issue for me as I only have about 30 coins in total. I have a WORD file with all of the information on each coin including: a description of the coin, an attribution, place of purchase, date of purchase, amount paid etc. I also keep an up to date gallery on FAC. My WORD file is backed up on 3 devices so that I cannot lose the file. The nice thing is that with drop box I can access this file from any of my devices no matter where in the world I happen to be. I can also use the FAC website to show my collection to anyone who is interested.

I also use the Word file and a template to print out tags for my coins. All of my coins are in 2X2 Saflips. Some are in an Abafil case and the rest are in a red box.

 

I'm kind of lax, i guess. I keep a list in a spiral notebook of all my coins, their grades, and what i paid for each one.

 

Something on my to do list

 

I wrote my own spreadsheet, driven by extensive visual basic macros running in the background. It has good search and report capabilities, stores pictures and comments for each coin, although I don't have pictures of them all. I have been using it for about 10 years

I am in the process of converting it to a forms driven, menu based product with extra search and report capabilities and which will include price data which automatically updates the prices of all coins if I have several of the same type. After that is done I plan on adding the capability of storing historical price data for all coins and automatically finding the catalog number and value if I enter year and denomination.

Here is a sample screenshot I took some time ago (some fields were blanked out for it).

 

I keep a three ring binder and take a print of the page relevant to the coin I am buying whether fixed price sale or auction which not only has a pic but all the info you need, price, provenance, dates the put them in a protective sleeve. As far as album just a couple of coins per page with enlarged pic and word info under. I also keep invoices and receipts behind the page in the folder.

 

I do exactly what Ancient Aussie does just to have a record of the purchase in case the coin turns out to have problems. I have thought about building a data base or something but never seem to find the time. I never bothered with US coins. Never seemed necessary but it's different with ancients.

 

I'm not into databases or spreadsheets, so my thought was simple Word document. Here is what I came up with in a brief time. Not sure what the end result will be, but its a work in progress. I can get four coins per page, which some may not like, but as my eyesight continually gets worse I think its for the best. Still have some data to add, and will of course line them up properly so they are visually appealing. I think it will work for me with a small collection. If I had thousands to catalog I would never do it this way:

 

That looks like a good idea, as you probably buy coins from collectors and therefore no sale sheet like alde's and mine, do you also have another copy that you use in your album, like cut into quarter's and pasted near coin?

 

@Ken Dorney

That looks very good to me.

Mine looks similar to yours but I do not use 2 columns. I might try this method for myself because I would like to have photos with the description.

 

I use Excel spreadsheet and would be glad to send a sample to anyone who might like to set up something similar. My problem with a word document comes when you are trying to keep things in chronological order. Inserting into the middle of a word document could throw off the remainder of the document. Or so that is what I found.
As an example @Ken Dorney, if I use your format and wanted to insert a like Danubian Celt, it would push only part the next entry into the next page. Then The remaining pages have to be adjusted to keep each entry on the same page. Am I making any sense?
I currently have 742 entries in my catalog. Way too many to just put two or three per page. With a spreadsheet, I can search for just about any parameter and have it at my fingertips in moments.
I also keep photos with each entry so that is not a problem either.
As it stands, I have the following columns: Description; Date; Mint; Image; Date Acquired; Acquisition Source; Notes; Coin Location (Book and page numbers); and cost.

 

A combination of Ancient Aussie, sakata and Dorney is what I use ...

As you probably know, I have a sweet word document for every coin, which is stored in 3-ring binders, inside the big-ass gun-safe!! ... plus, I have an excel spreadsheet that has my coins listed by date, obverse & reverse images, coin-city, mint, deity, denomination, cost, seller, seller-country, etc

... a wee bit anal/OCD? ...

=> 100% (fricken engineers!!)

 

A little different for the lifelong stamp collector, which is my major hobby (but still a coin collector since 1951).

I have a series of Excel spreadsheets with about 35,000 line items, backed up 4 places. No photos, no sources, done more for insurance purposes than anything else; they don't care what I paid for them, or where they came from, and since I don't plan to sell any of the good stuff, they will pass into my estate at fair market value.

In a way, I'm jealous of Orfew, who has only 30 items. If I had to start over, I'd have a knock-em-dead Type Set, probably less than 200 coins, endlessly improving. And some Roman gold!

 

Like Bing, I also use an excel document. It's a quick and easy way to track my collection and add any relevant data. I also email it to myself every so often just in case my computer blows up. The only real drawback is that excel doesn't have an easy way to add a picture with each coins information. And since my coins reside in a SDB in the bank, I have to use separate folders for that.

 

I have fallen very behind in the digital cataloging and even in preparing proper flips .

I had started using FileMaker Pro and will probably stick with that. If I had a printer I'd probably copy what some of you do-- print a page or two about each coin organized in a binder. I'd still keep the coins in their boxes in a small safe since they need to be in a dehumidified area.

 

Not sure what you mean -- my modest Excel database has small pictures (that can be enlarged) with each entry:



Excel works pretty well for my collection (fewer than 60 coins) but I would think that a database program of some type would be better for larger collections.

 

Yeah, like IoM i add images (front and back) of each coin to my Excel spread sheet. It's really quite easy.

 

That looks really nice Ides. I need to learn how to use Excel and do something similar.

 

I prefer database software... fast, flexible, and you can create different "forms" for viewing the same data (one for yourself, one for casual viewers, one for an appraiser, one for printouts etc.). I use Bento, which has been discontinued, but still works great... at some point I'll have to move to Filemaker like @TIF, or maybe TapForms.

 

I initially kept the information in a Word file, but have moved on to Excel as it is much easier to sort entries, insert new entries in the correct spot, and add new categories of information as necessary. I've now got my Parthian, Sasanian, and Roman/Byzantine coins converted to Excel, and am working on my "other" (Islamic, various Indian, and miscellaneous [I've got two coins from the Khmer Kingdom for some reason]). Then it's on to the Chinese, which I need to recatalogue anyway with my newly-purchased copy of Hartill's book. That should keep me busy for a while...