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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,587 |
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Valued Member
United States
242 Posts |
My collection of world coins will probably have several hundred from all sorts of years and countries, most circulated, whats the best way to catalog them? They will almost all be in 2x2 pvc free flips in the red row boxes or I may convert to 3 ring binders at some point later. I was thinking my mom has or I can buy a label maker that would let me label basic information on the coin flip in a nice simple black on white font. Coin flips being white it wouldnt look to bad in my opinion and would beat my horrible handwriting. Part of my concern is the catalog numbers. I dont want to just do 0001 0002 etc as I figure I can do much better. Like I was thinking each country has a currency code on wikipedia I was thinking I could do something like the 3 letter currency code, followed by the year followed by the denomination followed by a alpha for the multiple instances. So like my 1897 british penny on the british forum would be GBP 1897 1D A. (1d according to wikipedia I dont know British naming or how its done on coins in general.) I figure with those four codes I could put one in each corner and it would look kinda nice and be easy to sort if needed or rearrange or whatever. Does that sound good? Or do I have some basic flaw in my design that I am unaware of due to my inexperience and I am going to end up painting myself into a corner at some point?  Thanks! |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2884 Posts |
If it's just coins from 1600+ Krause catalogue numbers are probably as good as any. Those catalogues have 95%+ of all world coins from that date covered.
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Valued Member
 United States
242 Posts |
Ive seen these books mentioned before and I see there is a CD version of the ones I might find usefull but the total would be 70$US for everything I 'need'. Is there any online version of this information thats free to use? Or does everyone pretty much anti up to them for this type of information?
Thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2884 Posts |
Numismaster should be a good start - http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis.jspit won't give you values though. Argueably not a bad thing since they are usually way off anyway. But if you are going to be collecting a lot of these sort of coins the Krause catalogues are essential (even though some valuations are out) |
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
If you don't need the latest coin values/prices, you could try buying an older edition of the Krause. Maybe on ebay; there must be people out there who, when they buy a new edition, don't just trash the old one. :) Also, you can look many coins up here. http://www.ngccoin.com/poplookup/Wo...e-Guide.aspx Will just be a little time consuming, depending on how many coins you want to check. Those currency codes with three characters are actually standardized (ISO) codes by the way. Most of them use the ISO country code followed a third letter indicating the currency name: US plus D(ollar) becomes USD, GB plus P(ound) becomes GBP, and so on. Problem is that sometimes, after a currency reform, a new code is introduced, e.g. please (Polish ZÅ‚oty) becomes PLN (Polish New ZÅ‚oty), or TRL (Turkish Lira) becomes TRY (Turkish Yeni/New Lira). You would have to decide whether you want to strictly follow those ISO codes, or rather create your own ones. While catalog numbers may be boring :) they may make it easier for you to later find "your" coin in such a catalog. Christian Edited by chrisild
08/25/2012 08:25 am
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Valued Member
United States
242 Posts |
Well part of fun for collecting for me is putting care and time into the collection itself so I might make the Krause catalog number one of the four corners so its on hand if I wanna look it up. Maybe the ISO code in another, the date in another the denomination in the fourth and a alpha for multiple instances on the back. Part of it is how fast I get to know some of the information about my own coins. Like info about the 1897 british low tide penny is sticking in my mind so I dont 'need' to label that except as fun to the hobby and having all the major info 'at hand' for showing people as opposed to having to flip through a book or use a computer.
But it seems to be the suggestion that the krause catalogs are worth it and I can get coins from 1901 to 2013 + my 1961 to present bank notes for 70 all on CD with what they claim are images that are 400 times better then the website (that's the magnification they say lol) and searchable which is useful.
So I may just bite the bullet and buy them as I seem to be getting the feel its a really worthy investment.
But all these discussions I'm having are giving me great ideas on how I wanna proceed and I am new enough to the process that I can always start over in the organizing after 20 or 50 or 100 coins and have fun doing it! :D
Thanks! Alot! :D
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
The problem with folders (I found) after a time was how many gaps to leave for new acquisitions? But Krause is certainly the way to go. Not absolutely perfect but then just look at all the info. Check this link for a comprehensive explanation on the quirks of British coins before decimalization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_...ited_KingdomAnd welcome Schwanke. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2884 Posts |
The problem is, Kenney, that's illegal.
Edited by Bacchus2
08/25/2012 1:25 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
Yeah, beyond the legality I am much more worried about the harm to the company. It takes a lot of time and effort to produce a catalog. The expense is massive and they are selling to a limited market. Considering that most people here don't even bother to try to label and catalog their entire collection, I consider it a feat that they are attempting to catalog an entire century for every country.
If everyone downloaded the catalog then it wouldn't be worth it for them to make it. I appreciate the fact that there is a company that makes the catalog and would like them to continue making the catalog in the future. So, even though it is expensive, I went ahead and bought the catalog. I would suggest that you do to at some point.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2884 Posts |
I do use a few pdf catalogues (free to use ones for ancients that are out of copyright)but to be honest, there's nothing like having the book in front of you to leaf through.
And to echo allranger, there really is a limited market out there, and those catalogues are like a bible to world coin collectors - without them our hobby would not nearly be as enjoyable.
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Valued Member
United States
242 Posts |
Instinct told me that the 1901 - 2000 and the 2001 - Present (2013) CDs were the best option for me. I have always had problems dealing with hard copy because of the shere volume of information and no search function hehe. The Krause website said it included search functions as well as the ability to blow up pages to 400% which is a good thing. I also enjoy doing a lot of my work at my computer since that is where I edit the images and I have a photo station next to me.
It also seemed to save me 20 to 30 dollars I think it was off the physical copies and I can still print the pages according to Krause. I was thinking about maybe doing a portfolio of information by printing a page for each coin to keep with the collection so if I take the collection somewhere I have the Krause information even though I might not take the CDs.
As for the illegal comment which I assume got deleted because I cant see it. I have a strict rule to not break the law except when absolutely necessary. I dont even speed on the highway unless I feel it really is too dangerous going too slow. (Which does happen) I've also been involved in many many programming projects so I know the value of copyrighted information vsus pirating.
Thanks yet again for all the information! Having this kind of community is adding soooo much enjoyment and I have only talked about one coin! :D
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
Schwanke - if you're going to all that trouble to label your coins, you might also consider (1) metal content of each, and (2) grade and value so that down the road your estate administrator (hopefully a LONG way down the road for you!) will be able to determine the value of your collection when divvying up things amongst your heirs.
I have quite a few foreign coins, and for me it's not so long down the road that an estate administrator will be looking over my "stuff". I really should get cracking on cataloging my coins, eh?
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I have been very lazy with this myself... one of these days I am going to get onto it...
Some would be easier than others (4 ring binders containing British coins has 1 page per denominations and then all years in order, same for Australian, similar for USA but 3 ring binder and then 2 numis 4 ring binders with world coins are pretty randomised as countries are split up due to different sizes of coins, then I have odd stuff too in boxes and notes to go through also)
For the ring binders I guess I would be printing out sheets on computer and putting them in a different binder, possibly buying a USB microcope to photograph different pieces and with some sort of coding like numbering the albums and pages. In any case it is a big job, something I will put off for the forseeable future.
Ahh and after reading the above posts I will add one more point. I have always managed to leave adequate gaps for mising years but sooner or later you always need to start a new page or move coins within albums. This is one reason that I no longer have a catalogue of my coins, because the catalogue could not keep up with the re-organisations that have occured. My previous catalogue was done by looking up the coins in books and written out longhand on accountancy papers. Since those days my collection has grown considerably.
Edited by DavidUK
08/25/2012 6:27 pm
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Valued Member
United States
242 Posts |
Yah. There is a question on where to draw the line on the 'rententiveness' that I am talking about hehe. I am fooling around with lots of ideas and may find over time that I just find the process of labeling them tedious and decide to not do that, do all of it, or even do any of it short of a Krause catalog number and a serial number for repeat entries.
Like for example I wasnt going to label the guardhouse 2x2 cases because I didnt want to spot up the nice case with 'ugly' black and white lettering all over the place. I was going to use a different system for them, something tiny along the edge, seeing as how more then likely I will only have a few of them and most I will know them because they are important enough to me in some fashion to warrant those cases.
All of this was why I wanted other people's inputs and appreciate all of them. I can get obsessive at the start of a collection and then basically look stupid later on. Figured I would ask first and see if there is anything common people use that could save me the trouble and ego hit hehe.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3184 Posts |
I have a friend that gets me world coins and what he does it put them in 2x2s for me and put his grade opinion as well as year, type of metal like silver, copper, etc, retail price, and the KM number.
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,587 |
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Posted 08/25/2012 05:49 am
