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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,158 |
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
Hello All!
I'm as newbie as newbie can get to all of this but my son and I are off and running, especially with the world coins. I would like to keep an inventory in a digital format of our coins (not too worried about pics for now). Rather than me messing around with Excel spreadsheets for a few days I thought I'd ask advice from those with experience and possibly a program to recommend.
We have bulk world coins that we're sorting, identifying, and labeling for now. Once that is done (or at least well on its way) we'll get into the grading, etc. Right now we're having fun getting a general idea of what we have and just enjoying the coins. I want to start a system now, though, before things get too out of control!
Any suggestions?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Manderbeast- There are various programs that one can buy for this purpose, but many other numismatists and I have found that Excel is in fact one of the best ways to do it. I find that it is just so easy to customize as to fit your personal system of organization. Maybe playing around with excel for a few days would be the easiest ways to go about this.
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New Member
 United States
8 Posts |
Archraz, I'm very comfortable with Excel so it seems like a good option to me but I figured I would check for opinions. I can see how a program intended for this would be easier for someone not familiar with Excel, though. By the way, I realized that I'm working backwards. I did a search for this topic after I posted this and then also realized that I'm probably posting in the wrong part of the forum. My apologies and now I'm going to whisk myself away to the Numismatic supplies, etc. portion of the forum.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1415 Posts |
 to CCF. I use Excel. You can set it up anyway ya want. I have multiple worksheets. They are arranged so the ones with the most coins are separate and others glom countries together where I do not have a lot of coins. I keep date, denomination, mint, grade , KM#, cost, value, comments, and position in coin. Then I have a summary worksheet. This has been working fine, but I think I am going to write a program - when I get some empty idle time, that will have same info but allow me to add pics. If ya think of a program. Check the net - most companies allow you a demo version. Check em out and find the one ya like best. GOOD LUCK |
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Moderator
 United States
6563 Posts |
I use Excel And it's a Very detailed process for me. I have all details about every single coin, what page and book I can find it to to go along with the full page scan for insurance. I even have the silver content listed with formulas that I can update current silver prices and it automatically adjusts the price of the coin easily searchable and easy to organize when you know the outs and ins. and it's free  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2049 Posts |
I like Excel for the simple reason that you can customize it any way you want as far as what pieces of info you need. You can always add or subtract columns or rows later on if you deem the info to be not needed. Why spend extra money on software if you have what you need on your computer already? Either way you will have to learn it whether it's Excel or the specialized software right? Once you learn Excel, I think you will find it to be quite powerful for many applications. I use it for budgeting, banking, credit cards, and plenty of other purposes and learned it all on my own. It may seem intimidating at first, but it really is pretty simple and user friendly.
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
It seems like Excel is pretty popular, after all! I hadn't thought of a column for the silver content with a computation- simple use of the program but handy. That'll teach me to overthink it! Does anyone have something specific to world coins that they include that I may not think of? That's why I originally thought to post in this category. I don't know what I don't know at this point  . As for writing an entirely new program I'm most definitely not up for that right now, though it did occur to me that something Access-based could work well. Great info, all, thanks! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I guess I am behind the times - I use a word spreadsheet. It works fine and lets me keep a running total or various factors.
It is my own design because my collection is dominated by counterfeits which have their own peculiar parameters.
I agree that designing your OWN is probably the best way to do it.
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Valued Member
Denmark
69 Posts |
Manderbeast
If you don't want to use Excel - and I wouldn't blame you for that. I would suggest that you google for coin software.
There are many programs out there that you can download and test. That is what I did.
I had programed my own system but when I no longer was satisfied with it, I had the choice to create a new system or finding something else.
I googled and tested, googled and ... and ended up with Exact Change witch is very god for my Danish collection and any world coin collection I think.
There are topics about coin software on the forum that I would suggest you read.
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Valued Member
Italy
244 Posts |
Hi,
I also uss excel, but just to have my coins catalogued w/o images, when I decided to have also images catalogued, I decided to use html format, to me static-html tables and links capabilities give a good option to have a good catalogue of coins w/o needs to write programs (I don't remember, no more, how to write a program) too aged to write again programs, of course not too aged to collect small coins.
If you want have a look about how I'm organizing mycoins in html, just follow the link below.
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
Bo, You're absolutely right, there are some good topics in the other portion of the forum that I've read and found helpful. It seems this is a very much "to each his own" type of situation- or her own in my case. Many people have made good arguments for many methods. I think I will actually do a blend of things. I'm going to check out the free software, because why not? But in the meantime I'm going to sit down with my son and we'll make a spreadsheet together. Even if I end up going with a program down the road I think it's a good opportunity for him to start learning Excel in a fun way. I like the idea of using Excel for a wish list of coins as you have, though, rosso_rubino. No matter which method I end up using to inventory I think a separate file for wanted coins is the way to go. Now I guess I try everything and see! |
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Valued Member
United States
365 Posts |
Just wanted to say interesting topic and thread, thanks for all the comments folks.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,158 |
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Posted 12/25/2008 9:48 pm
