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 Replies: 33 / Views: 5,815 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
I purchased a lot of coins this past year or so, and I am getting to the point where I can't keep up with what I have. Or maybe I am just getting old  Maybe I should ask what a large collection is? I am pretty sure I have many thousands of coins. I think most would be considered collector type coins, versus accumulating mass quantities of say wheat cents. Has anyone, with a large collection been successful with doing a complete inventory and be able to keep up with it. If so, how did you do it? |
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
10743 Posts |
Well... GR58, this is what we do.. take your time (you have to have lots of it), start on Lincolns say, list what you have, grades and such, ie: costs etc., then go to the next ones and keep on going, it takes a while but, you can accomplish it eventually.
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
10743 Posts |
And, forgot to mention, as you upgrade your coins just take time to cross off the 'old' one and replace it with the 'new' one.  |
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Valued Member
United States
230 Posts |
I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my world coin collection. I list the denomination, country, year, grade, composition/PM fineness, mintage figure, and value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
That is a task that I almost dread. I still have coins in bags, boxes, and jars. The more I get put into 2x2's, albums, or capsules, the more I seem to acquire. ASE's, Silver Panda's, Morgans, Peace dollars, and all graded coins are all inventoried on an Excel spreadsheet and locked away in a safe deposit box awaiting the purchase of a nice large home safe...........or two. Maybe someday I'll get the rest done. |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
11951 Posts |
Quote:
start on Lincolns Quote:
That is a task that I almost dread. I still have coins in bags, boxes Quote:
I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my world coin collection. I list the denomination, country, year, grade, composition/PM fineness, mintage figure, and value Sounds like I am heading in the same direction. I have been working for a week or so, couple hours a day. So far I am still working on the albums. I am thinking the 2X2 boxes and rolls will be harder to list. I have not even thought about the slabs. I might be messing up, but so far I am just building the spreadsheets. Entering Date/MM. Have not entered mintage, value (from greysheet) and I am thinking of putting in ASW/AGW. I am hoping, when done I can use Excel to calculate how much silver I have. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9350 Posts |
Quote:
and I am thinking of putting in ASW/AGW. I am hoping, when done I can use Excel to calculate how much silver I have.
I do the same thing, it works well. EXCEL is the way to go. It takes a long time to get all the data entered, but is easy to maintain once you're there. Steve |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts |
I concentrate on collecting...I'll let the estate sale people worry about keeping track of it.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
Of course, everyone has his/her own standards. With my six and a half thousand pieces without any organization it wouldn't be a collection but rather "mess for someone to deal with after I'm gone". Besides, I don't think you can fully enjoy your collection if it's all in a formless pile. And, as you mention, it's imperative to catalog your possessions for keeping track of what you have to minimize duplicates (yes, minimize, at least I still can't get rid of those completely).
MS Excel with limitless fields and numbers of sheets has been working fine for me. A couple of times I found myself in a "power acquisition" mode when I got volumes of coins with no time to enter them into the database. I just made sure to keep them separate, then I broke them into categories (e.g. according to continents or types), sometimes even into subcategories (e.g. easily identifiable/attributable versus needing some research). When I had time I'd pick a single category or subcategory to record them in my spreadsheets. This could be a strategy to catalog a large amount of coins without overwhelming yourself.
Good luck with your endeavor!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
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I am hoping, when done I can use Excel to calculate how much silver I have. The good thing about Excel that you can always insert/update/edit any information according to your current priorities. You can copy your spreadsheet on any number of sheets in the same file, and sort any of them in any fashion you please. For example sort them along the silver content column (if you into that kinda thing  ) Just make sure you choose the "expand the selection" option so all the coins follow along with their characteristics. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
I found a cool program called CoinManager the other day. I haven't had a chance to play with it, but seems very cool. You can create a database of your coins and even add photos. I plan on doing this with any coins of sentimental value or high cash value... not with coins I might cycle through. The only draw back I saw to the program was the inability to add rolls of coins to your collection. I have many unc rolls of copper cents, but can't find a way to add them. But its not hard to just hand inventory the rolls.
I plan on using the program, after taking pictures, to be able to shop for upgrades for my 7070 while I travel. I'm in the same boat... coins everywhere and I'm really starting to forget what all I have.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
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it's imperative to catalog your possessions for keeping track of what you have to minimize duplicates Having mine organized would be a big help for me. I am buying coins 4 or 5 days a week. I find myself buying coins I do not need. I also have to many sets/albums to remember which coins I would like to upgrade. It is good to read all the replies .. makes me think it might be possible to complete a good inventory. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Another question I am getting to the boxed and rolled coins. How did most of you do them? For example - I have a box with 200+ LMC coins. All BU, most cut from mint sets. In your spread sheet did you just enter 200 LMC or did you break down each year and mint? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
I have been putting my coins in boxes, albums and such. they all go home to my fathers house and put in his basement safe. Every time I finish and album I will list the contents take quick pictures of each page and then seal it up. I keep one copy in my home safe, on the computer and 1 in my fathers safe. I can honestly say I have no idea how much I have stored, but I do know one thing; Once I start going through the inventory I'll know exactly what I have and if I'm missing anything.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Keep track of all your coins? WHY? Just make a list of what you DON'T have and look for those.
I gave up keeping track of everything a long time ago. No real reason to. I just need to know what I need.
I do have an EXCEL spreadsheet for a lot of them but impossible for all.
As an example I have a box of foreign coins in 2x2's and not only don't know how many, I don't even know where most are from.
If you put off keeping good records for now, eventually it will be almost to late.
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Moderator
 United States
187446 Posts |
First, I moved this to the 'Supplies, Books, Reference, Software, etc' sub-forum. Second, I use a spreadsheet as well. I say spreadsheet because Excel is not the only option and I started mine many, many years ago with something called SpeedCalc on my Commodore 128. A spreadsheet does everything that I need and I believe it should satisfy the needs of most collectors; however, I do understand those who find value in the more robust database applications. |
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Replies: 33 / Views: 5,815 |
Posted 12/28/2011 5:27 pm
