How Does Everyone Catalog Their Collection?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Ken Dorney, Feb 19, 2017.

  1. chrsmat71

    chrsmat71 I LIKE TURTLES!

    I've been thinking about this lately and have enjoyed reading the posts here.

    I currently don't have any system. :bag:

    I have pictures of my coins with basic attribution info stored on photobucket, which is as slow as 3 legged turtle sometimes. I originally started using it several years ago when I frequented CCF and they had a limit on picture size you could upload.

    I think I'll give the excel spreadsheet a try....maybe. :bear:
     
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  3. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    I agree that it would be really tough to create a universal coin cataloging program. I collect pre-1950 U.S. and Roman Republic plus a few Roman Imperial and a few modern "world" coins. RSC or Sear number columns would be totally useless for U.S. coins; grading service cert. number columns would be totally useless for my Roman coins, etc. For some coins, I have multiple high res pics; too many total bytes to include in a single file, and links to outside files become useless as soon as pic or directory names change. So, separate directories for pics of each coin work well with a viewing program.

    Some folks, like me, take to programming and creating formulas, so spreadsheets or databases work great, and I love the flexibility. Some folks are more verbally and visually oriented, so word processors or perhaps a custom program where the formulas are built-in works best for them.

    Cal
     
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  4. gregarious

    gregarious E Pluribus Unum

    file?!?.... i thought you said "pile" (e pluribus unum) coins dumps shell money 001.JPG
     
  5. gregarious

    gregarious E Pluribus Unum

    my system is keep coins in a 10 yard radius, add memory + from chaos comes order. while this method might drive others crazy, i have a short ride to get there><.
     
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  6. icerain

    icerain Mastir spellyr

    Photobucket was great in the beginning, not so much anymore. IMO all free photo sites have some problems. It seems that the only way to get a good large picture into a database is Word, at least thats the only one I know of.
     
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  7. aubade21

    aubade21 Well-Known Member

    Funny, I looked up how to do this awhile back (probably 4-5 years ago) when I started tracking my coins this way, and people said it could not be done (without extensive workarounds). I only know excel basics, so I just assumed it was a limitation of the program. Nice to know it can work with pictures.
     
  8. aubade21

    aubade21 Well-Known Member

    Thank you, Doug! It seems so simple now. I think I was running with an old excel document when I began, and I just didn't bother to see what the upgraded versions had to offer. I'm excited about adding some pictures now. Thank you.
     
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  9. red_spork

    red_spork Triumvir monetalis

    This is what my spreadsheet looks like. I do it all in Google docs so I can easily add/view info on the go. All of my RR coins are cataloged by Crawford number basically, though some not-in-Crawford types are just "cf. [Crawford number]". Every coin gets a sequential 4-digit number that gets reset every year, i.e. so my first coin of 2017 was JMR170001. The "type" column also has a macro setup so that when I insert AE or AR at the beginning it colors the cell either brown or grey mostly just because I felt like just black and white text was boring.
    spreadsheet-2202017.png

    You'll notice I don't have any pictures in the spreadsheet itself and that is intentional because I generally have multiple relevant pictures or scans for each coin and those are all kept on my dropbox. Here's what one such folder looks like:
    folder.png

    included are: scans of all tags that came with the coin when I purchased it, scans of old auction catalogs and relevant illustrations. In this case the coin is a rarer type so I also have an "OtherExamples" folder that includes images of all examples of the type known to me. More common coins don't get the "OtherExamples" folder generally unless there is a good reason like, for instance, the type is some weird variant and I've found similar variant examples.
     
  10. dlhill132

    dlhill132 Member

    WOW, am I behind. I use a log book.:)

    Doug
     
  11. sakata

    sakata Devil's Advocate

    You certainly are. By now most people are using paper books at least. But this is the ancients forum.
     
  12. Pellinore

    Pellinore Well-Known Member

    A true Ancient would engrave it on a rock.

    Asterix obelisk 2.jpg
     
  13. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

  14. stevex6

    stevex6 Random Mayhem

    My current/previous company was cool enough to make the "BIG NICKEL" (and cent)

    Big Penny & Big Nickel.jpg [​IMG]

    okay, I admit that it's not one of the 7 wonders, but it's pretty cool, actually
     
  15. gregarious

    gregarious E Pluribus Unum

    that's kool as ice cream. i had to take a 2nd lQQk to make sure it was real.
     
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  16. If you have the program Quicken, you can modify it with entries for each class.
    I list each purchase with cost, lot numbers and slab numbers. A lot number is great for 2x2's. Also you can include it with all your other important information in the same program. Keep it updated on flash drives or SD card. I back up on 3-4 drives.
    Works great for me. Just does not have photos. You can flip back and forth with names of product, lot #'s, dates. It is endless. Check it out.
     
  17. Ken Dorney

    Ken Dorney Yea, I'm Cool That Way...

    I've enjoyed the thread. When I started it I knew what I ultimately wanted to do but wanted to see what others are doing (or not doing as it turns out). Bing pointed out that my format wont work for a lot of people. Very true, my collection is small and I intend to keep it that way. I have no need or interest to amass many thousands of coins. I figure I will end up with a few hundred coins at the end, tops. I prefer to spend more on single nicer quality coins (not to assume I dont have low dollar stuff, as I certainly do). My word document idea is fine for me. I can add as I need, clean up the document as needed. I chose the Word format as I am more visually oriented. It looks nice and with four coins per page the images are nice and large enough I can see them well when my eyes get worse. Since my kids are not interested in coins I intend to ultimately sell them off at some point. And if they are nice to me maybe I'll take them on a nice vacation! Also, I wanted to have a record of the relative values of the collection in the case I die before I can sell them. This way hopefully they wont be taken down to a local pawn shop and sold for 1/10th of a penny on the dollar! But, the vanity in me wishes to keep a record. Before I sell them off I will print the document and have it hard bound into a book, purely for selfish reasons. Here is an image similar to the one already posted, with errors and clean-up still necessary:

    Untitled.jpg
     
  18. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    It ultimately comes down to what works for each of us and what makes each of us happy. I've never been diagnosed as OCD, but I believe I am. Therefore I want as much info per coin as I can in a neat, easy to manipulate catalog. Nothing can be out of place!!!!!!!
     
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  19. icerain

    icerain Mastir spellyr

    The binding them into a book part sounds interesting. On good quality paper, it would be an interesting catalog for others to flip through.
     
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