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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,244 |
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
I am new to coins but have received a very large collection and am about to start cataloging everything. I was going to use excel and start a database. Is there a better way? What information about each coin should I record? Does anyone have a set up format for this?
Thanks Edited by Rlbol
07/28/2008 5:13 pm
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Moderator
 United States
188026 Posts |
I use a spreadsheet (e.g. OpenOffice.org Calc, Microsoft Excel, etc.). It is quick, cheap (at least OO.o Calc is), and easy. I have everything in one "workbook" but use a separate worksheet for each album. I record date/mint, condition, cost, and notes. You can also record grade and estimated value if that is something you are trying to determine.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
 ..... Rlbol ...... I need to do this too !........I have a pile a foot tall of papers, receipts, auction tickets, notes, etc. etc. etc. etc. A spreadsheet is definitely the way to go !.......I wish I'd have started out that way a long long time ago ! Now it seems too work intensive to start now and go through all of those papers ...  Of course, It'll only get worse from here as I add to the "pile" ! My girlfriend keeps offering to do this work (even taking pics of everything)......but should she know just how much I've spent and how often ?........  ....  Edited by eaglefoot
07/28/2008 5:48 pm
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Moderator
United States
188026 Posts |
Easy solution: give me all of your coins and then start over! When you do, start using the spreadsheet on day one!  Better solution: do not let the girlfriend see the receipts (or anything with a price on it). Just let her work from the notes and at the very least it will help put a dent in the work!  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1931 Posts |
Not free, but I use coin manage software. It has value listings, and you can either use their image or add an image of your own, as well as notes about when you got things, how much it cost you etc. I think I paid around $40 for the pack that includes, canada, us, and britain.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
860 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4541 Posts |
I am doing one myself. Man what a lot of work. I just opened up microsoft office and went to wikipedia and got all the info on the coins and did it that way
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New Member
 United States
2 Posts |
Thank you for all the replies. I have started making an excel spread sheet but with my lack of knowledge in coins it is going slow. I am planning on liquidating all of it so would there be better info I should record? I have a column for Coin,year,mint, and condition. can anyone think of any more useful columns? Thanks again
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1415 Posts |
I would add country, comments(unique stuff about this coin), reference material(if you use Krause[typical]) page number, KM#. Then if you keep the coins in folder some type of reference. I keep mine in folders(LABELED!), then use page, row and column. Then from the spreadsheet it is easy to find the item. THE MASTER PLAN!! I did all this, so my coins are pretty much set (NOTE ancients pose their own issues!! - if smart (I was not) DO NOT GET ANY!!  Anyway - I want to take pictures so I am creating a real database using MySQL in which I can insert the pictures directly into the database. So now I do not have a zillion picture files to manage. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
533 Posts |
Quote:
My girlfriend keeps offering to do this work (even taking pics of everything)......but should she know just how much I've spent and how often ?........ That is fantastic of her to offer, but unless you want to start hearing every 10 min about how much you spend on coins (like you don't know) I wouldn't even let her know where the receipts are.  I hear about it if I spend $100 a the coin shop, I just hope that she doesn't ever decide to glance through my ever growing pile of receipts and such. Her reaction would probably progress thusly: ,  ,  ,  ,  , And mine:  ,  , possibly  , then no coins for a few days and some  , then Remind me not to take her with when I decide to buy a CC Morgan... Edited by MorganNoob
07/29/2008 10:47 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
WELCOME TO THE FORUMYou can't beat Excel for what your doing since you probably already have it. Why go out and buy something when you have something already that is just as good.
I USED to use Excel for a coin managing and cataloging system. I made a spread sheet for each album, each pile of 2x2's, one for proof sets, one for uncirc sets, etc., etc., etc. I had columns for dates, mint marks, purchase of acquired dates, approximate value and just a lot of other STUFF. The eventually I said to myself, SELF, what are you doing? Why all this documentation. So I began deleting columns. Such as who cares when a coin was purchased? Why should I care how much I paid for it since I'm not selling it? Why put a value on a coin if it is going to keep changing? Eventually I ended up with just a few spread sheets on just basics such as how many albums and what percent complete. I will probably stop that too soon. I'm a coin collector, not a statistisian. I'm a coin collector, not a book keeper.
My suggestion is just sort out what you have, enjoy them and don't worry about making a paper or computer file.
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Valued Member
United States
77 Posts |
I use excel to monitor all my stuff. Just to see what I have and how much I have if I were to sell, based on honest observations of the coins.
My excel page took me about 3 months to get things up and running, and even 2 years later, I'm still adding new things to it
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,244 |
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Posted 07/28/2008 5:47 pm
