For Those With Large Collections How Do You Keep Track

Not sure what to say about that statement





Thanks jbuck - I am thinking most spreadsheet do about the same thing. If you have been keeping track that long .. you must have your inventory pretty much under control.

The more coins I get entered, the more I am liking it.
I am pretty sure when I am done I will be able to calculate how many coins I have and how much silver and gold. Once I have all my coins entered, I will be able to
put them on a tablet/notebook. That way when I am buying and selling coins, I hope to have up to date list ...maybe even pictures.

So far I have input over 20 Dansco albums and around 3000 coins from boxes and rolls. Still have a long ways to go.

That is my plan. New stuff will go into old safe until it gets put into inventory. Then to the new safe .. or to the bank box. I think once I get my system set up, it should be pretty smooth.

Just getting all the coins put into the spreadsheet is a challenge. For example: One of the boxes, in the to do pile has 1000 silver dimes, about 500 Roosevelt and 500 Mercury all in rolls. Some of the Roosevelt are BU or proof silver. Not sure if I should sort them out and put each date and mint mark, or just put them in as 1000 silver dimes.

It's great to read all the comments in this thread! Carl's point (I think) is that if you enjoy coin collecting, just collect coins and don't worry about the databasing. If you need to track things and databasing appeals to the OCD side of your nature, then go for it. I put my entire collection into a spreadsheet (excel) several years ago and it has really helped reduce duplicates and give me an idea of what I have - and don't have. I end up tweaking and updating things a lot but that's one of the ways that I enjoy my collection.

I use databases at work (filemaker and bento) and I have been thinking about moving my coin collection into one of those. This will be especially useful now that bento has a mobile app for iphone/ipad that would be very good for shows, etc. However, losing some of the ability to do calculations (add quantities and values of each coin) will make this less flexible. Does anyone have any experience with these or suggestions?

There are some of us who use MS Access. A database might be considered a step up from spreadsheets. Especially if your number of records gets quite large.

More discussion here:
https://goccf.com/t/105631&SearchTe...osoft,access

I am reluctant to share how I tracked my coins on my first home computer (Sinclair ZX-81 with tape drive), let alone the Commodore 64 that preceded my C128.

At the risk of going too far off topic, I will say that I clung to Commodore (and Amiga) well into the early 1990's before finally giving them up for the PC/clone world (My clone experience dates to the late 1980's, but that was not for home use).

Lot of interesting post to read through.

I am still inputting coins into the spreadsheet. I think the way I am collecting I need to have good records.
I have so many dansco's going, there is not way I can remember which coins I need. writing out a list does not
work for me. Last couple coin shows I have been buying coins I had and not the ones I need.

Now I am in the process of moving the better coins to the bank boxes. So it will be harder to check which coins I need .. or need to up grade. When I get my inventory done I will be able to load it onto a PC/notebook or tablet.

Right now I am buying/selling coins 5 or 6 days a week ... it has been getting out of control

I might have to get jbuck and his Comodore 128 to help me out

My first computer was a Tandy TRS80 color computer.
Anyone else have one of those.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Color_Computer

Steve