I just finished imaging one part of my coin collection. I discovered: -- I had some coins that I thought I didn't have (that will keep me from buying them again) -- I had some coins ID'ed wrong (that means I have some duplicates and there are holes where I thought there wasn't) My only excuse in this case is that the coins were Japanese occupation of China (1933-1945). ID'ing the correct dates requires a bit of care. Anyway I think I've got it all correct now ... at least until I do it again
Did you image all your coins? If so, how many & how long did it take? What means do you use for documenting/inventorying the coins? Thanks.
I'm curious about what insurance companies require to properly document a coin collection and the estimated values. I am negligent in organizing my collection other than keeping them in 2x2's and the slabs in the proper containers to avoid any damage. As for documentation of values on a spreadsheet including pictures, I fall into the haven't done it yet category.
There are a LOT of coins in my collection that aren't imaged. For example, out of my complete FE/IHC set less than 10 have pictures. But that's for later since the set is in a safe deposit box as is most of my better stuff. Taking good pictures and then formatting them is a slow process, at least for me. 1. Take pictures. Not too many at once since I get confused easily. -- I've got a Nikon D90 SLR with a Nikkor 60mm Macro lens and an inexpensive camera stand. Plenty good enough for me. -- I use an OTT-LITE with a "white" tube bulb. Goodman rates that as close to real sunlight. 2. Transfer pictures to my desktop computer. 3. Make a folder for each coin. I do that at this point so I can keep in mind what I'm dealing with. 4. Transfer the raw images into the appropriate folder. If I don't do it now I can easily get confused later. I got confused on part of the Japanese occupation of China images and had to delete some of them take the pictures all over again. 5. Edit the pictures with Photoshop Elements. -- I close-crop original and keep a copy. -- I resize the original to screen size and keep a copy. -- I circular crop the resized image and apply an appropriate background and keep a copy. This is generally my final picture. 6. Finally I make the appropriate notations in my inventory. My inventory is done in Excel. Ten coins will take anywhere from 1½-2 hours to do. Fortunately I'm retired so that I have to do this. A result:
The recommended procedure is to keep ALL purchase receipts. I didn't do that when I started so some of my 3-figure coins are not documented. But I do it religiously now. And items that cost <$50 I just note cat value in my inventory. My insurance is with Hugh Wood.
Great advice. I have kept all receipts for purchases and my collection has grown in the last few years to the point of needing insurance. I've yet to sell anything in my collection so the value is becoming substantial enough to insure them. Your photographs look great with your setup. I need to do the same along with the documentation. Thank you for your post!
If you are a member of the ANA, Hugh Wood is probably the best insurance out there. You need great records but they don't need to see them unless you have a claim.
Great post @kanga. Thanks for the info. I've tried doing the same as you with my collection, but getting decent photos of all of the coins is so time consuming that I put it off and only document my more costly coins. I too use Excel to keep my records and have kept all of my receipts for the past three years.
Wow, I never thought about photographing each coin! How do you keep the photo tied to the coin in excel? Do you imbed the document with the photo or create a short cut?
How do you manage coins won at club auctions? I've bought a lot of my coins there and you don't get a receipt. I do enter them into inventory with the price I paid. And what about roles? I have a tube of nickels I bought at a club meeting for $10. No receipt there.
I just have a column with the disk address where the image is stored. Plus I have a separate location where I store images; I can use that address if I prefer.
