Ancients: Organization and attribution at work

I'm lucky enough to work for an employer that allows me a reasonable amount of time to work on side projects when it's not busy. I'm a 911-emergency medical dispatcher. I dispatch for law/fire/ems and take Emergency and non emergency phone calls.

I remember reading a pretty old thread with people discussing what they did/do for a living. I think I might have missed out on responding to that one, but for whatever reason I think I remember that there were quite a few of engineers.

Anyways, I thought I would share my attribution ritual. Every time I receive 20 new coins, I go through this same process. Today I was lucky enough to have 40 newer coins, so will be spending a little more time on them. (it is a very slow day)

Disclaimer: I hope some of you don't have a hard time loading this page like you did in the ABC Ancient Coin thread I nearly killed I cut the resolution in half but this is a 20 MP camera

I fill out my own custom slips in Microsoft Word then cut them out according to the size of slip I have my coins in. Currently I have 2x2 BCW flips. I remove the coins out of whatever flips/packaging they came in; then after measuring weight and diameter I place my coins in the flips along with the inserts.





I then leave them stacked appropriately on my console for hours to stare at. haha. Sadly, this may not be as exaggerated as you may think. I designed the logo in Corel Draw


My favorites of the first batch of 20



I put these guys back in my box and take them home where they are placed into 1 of 8 binders according to their era and denomination; then it's off to the safe for as long as I can take before pulling them out just to look at them. Again, I really appreciate my employer allowing me to do this whilst on the job. Without it, I may go a little crazy with the same view every day. (sometimes I get strange looks when my monitors are full of coin pictures/websites.)



-Mike

 

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Your system sounds familiar, with the notable exception that I am mostly retired. I only work a few weeks a year through contracts with US Embassies around the globe. So, I go through about the same process only at home.

BTW, those coins look like winners. Are they all keepers or will you be placing any for sale?

 

What a lovely bunch of silver! I attribute and catalog all my coins in my FORVM gallery first, but I find the process of printing out the slips tedious, so I just write them out by hand. If I were selling them, I suppose I would have to do something more professional.

 

I keep all the attribution and provenance. I would never destroy the original insert, but include it with my own identification. At worst, on a simple 2x2, I would note in your case for example, "ex CCE 8/21/2014" and then a code for the price. My code is pretty simple, but it keeps things uncluttered because it reduces numbers to letters. M=13, etc., so $130 is JM = 10*13. But most of all, above all, I keep all that provenance because otherwise all you have is a bunch of Chinese or Bulgarian fakes that you imported. Another thing is that I always include catalog or sylloge identifiers: SNG von A. 1983 VAR or "PdA [Poey d'Avant for medieval France] 5951." Otherwise, all you have is a claim or assertion and the buyer has to go back and re-attrbute. And if you disagree, then what? How do you know what the coin was supposed to be?

When I am not on a project as a technical writer, I work as a security guard because my degrees are in criminology. Guarding at night is a good way to catch up on your reading... but for EMT Dispatch, I hope that when I call in with my Area Code 734 phone, you see that my GPS puts me in Austin, Texas... if you are not too busy with your coins (ahem)....

 

Definitely. I keep all my original inserts, and if there aren't any errors on them, I don't bother making my own.

 

I keep all original inserts with a numbered sticker attached to it with the corresponding number on the flip when it goes into the binder. If it's not already listed, I write an identifier i.e. SEAR or RIC on the original flip. If the coin doesn't come with one, I write up a quick flip and place it with the rest of the empties. I'm tedious when it comes to organization and prefer uniformity.

My side project in no way hinders response times on any calls I add or dispatch.

Clarifier: When I sold a few coins to the local coin shop, the original inserts went with them.

 

I don't sell many coins. I think I've sold a total of 10. I am going to take 100 or so to Salt Lake in two weeks. I'll be hitting most of the coin shops and going to two coin club meetings. I'll see if I have any buyers while I'm there.

 

That's good to hear. You had me worried. A collector who is not obsessive is ... ummm... is.... hey! Has anyone ever met a collector who was not obsessive?

 

Beautiful coins and lucky you have a job that lets you do that. I can only do it with my free time and its the same process. Print out labels with every 20 news coins I have gotten over time, toss them in flips and then the album. Though I have just gone from a 1 inch binder to 2 cause I have gotten so many, and new pages arrived today.

 

super bunch of coins!

you guys are very organized! bing showed me his similiar set up/ritual...it's very nice. i have most of my ancients stored in these little red coin boxes. i




one nice thing is easy organization. when i had them in a binder, i would have to rearrange the whole thing when i got a new coin that need to go in a certain spot. with the boxes, it's much easier to arrange stuff...just "file them" in the correct spot. i write out the labels by hand. i do feel sorry for anyone who has to read my writing later...i try to be neat, but my neatest isn't good.
i do keep somemoderns in binders

 

I keep them in boxes as well, in an air-conditioned room, and each box has a couple of those silica gel packs.

 

Ah, I started out that way and I agree, I have to sort the pages whenever I get something new, but the boxes caused my flips to scuff since they rubbed on each other and I couldnt stand it. So album its been now for a few years.

Ive debated on trays but they take up too much space.

 

Wow, iamtiberius => fantastic job on being an obsessive dude!!

Ummm yah, before I got asked to leave my "previous coin-site", I created a very popular thread called "Numismatics & Our Occupations" (I received over 100 responses) ... anyway, I just logged-in as a "guest" and copied a post from page 11 ... here it is ...

Okay fine ... I've had a couple of glasses of wine and I quickly tried to update the list that I'd already created on page 5 ...

Ummmm, maybe it's the wine, but it is quite difficult to fit everybody into a specific slot, so I admit that I may have taken some liberties ... but overall, I did okay and it is merely a "general touch-base" to see what we all do for a living, right?

... anyways ... I made an effort to keep you dudes informed and here is what I came-up with:

IT/Tech/Prog => 13
Engineers => 12
Students => 12
Const/Trades => 12
Education => 10
Armed Forces => 8
Police/Paramed/Nurse/Dental/SocWork => 6
Baker/Chef/Rest => 3
Bar/Spirits => 2
------------------
Other => 24

NOTE => I'm positive that if somebody else danced-through this entire thread that their "classifications" may vary slighty/considerably from my numbers (sadly, obviously a survey that allowed people to vote on their job clasification would have been far more "efficient" than my extremely non-engineering survey => "my bad") ... I feel dirty

anyway ... my boss would want a summary right about now, so I'll add-in this "stevex6" very-approx recap/interp:

=> IT-Types => 13%
=> Engineers = 12%
=> Trades = 12%
=> Students => 12%
=> Education => 12%
=> Armed Froces => 8%
----------------------
=> "The Rest" => 31%

STEVEX6 SUMMARY => Overall, there isn't a "huge" winner/outlier ... however, there is a slight correlation that IT/Eng/Educ/Student make-up 50% of coin collectors ...

Proving nothing => and happily indicating that 50% of coin collectors are "not" geeky dudes and gals

=> cementing the fact that => "COIN COLLECTING IS FOR EVERYBODY"!


Anyway ... I totally agree with kaparthy

=> obsession (OCD in my case) seems to be a common trait amongst all of us!!

iamtiberius => please keep-up the great work, my obsessive coin-bro!! (great post)

 

Ummm, perhaps somebody obsessive might want to start a thread with a "survey" to find out if these initial findings are relatively consistent on this coin site?

 

Usually I store my coins "naked" in their trays a safe deposit box -- i.e., not in the 2x2 flip since I don't want anything affecting the long-term storage of the coins. However, when I display my coins in their trays, I too use 2x2 flips with custom-created slips. (I also retain the original slip from the dealer or auction house and place it in the same 2x2 flip.)

Since I have a color inkjet printer, I customized my slips using a page-layout program (a very old copy of PageMaker), which helps me differentiate the various fields of information that I include on the slip. Here's an example for the most recent Titus sestertius that I acquired:



None of my slips include any size information; I rarely see this in the auction descriptions and ancient coins are so non-circular that I'm not sure where I'd measure the size anyway.

The bottom line of the slip includes the RIC reference (if appropriate) or other reference works, as well as the estimated condition of the coin (VF, EF, about EF, etc.).

I don't include the provenance on the slip but keep all that information in a separate spreadsheet with accurate reference to the dealer or auction and lot number. Of course, that information is also on the original slip that I include in the 2x2 flip with the coin when it's displayed.

 

I imagine you've planned for this but my safe deposit box gets extremely humid in some parts of the year so I have a rechargeable desiccant in with my coins to prevent humidity within their local atmosphere.

I have some large coins in a tray (the Nomos/CNG coin case with Saflips cut to the size of the squares to prevent motion on the fabric from wearing the reverse) but the "horror stories" of wood outgassing and unexpected toning from velvet/other materials has caused me to change my storage methods many times resulting in a closet full of failed storage approaches.

I'm a bit more obsessive than I probably need to be but my current primary method of storage has most of my coins in Lighthouse EverSlabs. They are thicker than the CoinWorld holders and AirTites, able to fit most tetradrachms (although not all). With some slight modifications, the slabs can be opened/closed easily whereas they're normally "permanent" like an NGC holder.

My coins spend most of their time locked away so keeping them in slabs helps to prevent them from sliding around or moving in any way during transit, and significantly reduces their exposure to the elements. I take them out of the slabs when looking at them myself but keep some of my nicer coins in the slabs when showing to people inexperienced in the handling of coins.

I don't have any attribution detail in with my coins even though the holders have space for it. I keep everything organized in spreadsheets but having a hard copy in with the coins would be prudent and is an oversight on my part.

 

Ummm yah, I am also fairly obsessive and/or anal where my coins are concerned ...


I now have "10" three-ring binders, organized by "coin-date" (none shown in this dated modern-coin photo) ... each coin has a binder tab where I have a plastic coin-folder (non-PVC) ... in these coin-tabs I have full 8.5"x11" colour photo of each coin, plus I have a page of coin characteristics, plus I have additional pages associated with providence and/or generic/interesting info associated with the obverse and reverse scenes/gods ... oh, and I also keep any old coin-folders in a seperate "sack" ... ummm, and then I keep all of my coolness in a huge 500 lb gun-safe (now bolted securely to the basement floor) ...

There are seperate indeces in each of the 10 binders, which give the relative coin details (age, mint, obverse desc, reverse desc, coin name, coin denomination, metal type, cost, dealer info, dealer country, etc, etc) ...

sure, I've posted this before, but I never get tired of flaunting my OCD ...

 

That would bug me, 1 page for coin/pic, turn, then 1 page for coin/pic, turn. Waste of pages and whatnot to me.

But we all have our system.

 

Yah, you're correct ... there is always a down-side to every system (NOTE => I do occasionally mix it up and put the coin-photo and immediate coin-info on the same page) ... good comment, Mat

 

I made up a word document a long time ago to make 2x2 slips for each coin. Any documentation, i.e., provenance, is kept with the coin or in another binder if it is too large for the 2x2. My spreadsheet indicates all the pertinent information including details about the coin not kept with the coin and where to find such information. The inserts are then printed on card stock. I will have to keep in mind the color hint of IoM to help me differentiate the various fields of information.