How you keep track of your coins

[pman860507]

I have still not got this down to a tee. Ask me what all coins i have. My answer I don't know let me spend 5 hours searching though everything then i will get back to you.

So the simple question but i think its an important one primary for the people who first get into collecting.

I know when i first started i only had 5-10 nice coins. I knew exactly what I had. Now i have bags of wheat (still need to go though) boxes of 2x2's and I don't even know whats in most of them until i go though them. Most of the 2x2 i know are just BU Memorial but some varieties and errors are mixed in there too.

I want to set up a system so i know exactly what i have I have started the excel sheet that i posted before. Will provide a link again. I'm in the process of changing to more everyday Its very time consuming. I decided I want a tab for RPM and a tab for Doubled Dies. I cant figure out how i should start listing them.

Should I just put in there what i have, or should i put every possible DDO/DDR/RPM/etc.... I will post the blank one again which i not 100% up to par with my personal one until i get all the kinks out of it.

Okay anyway. How you you keep track of your coins. I know someone of you have Millions of cents. I would love to hear your process.


Link to Blank Cent Sheet

Thanks everyone I look forward to hearing from all of you!!!

[RWBILLER]

Hi
I use to keep my inventory on home made spreadsheets using Excel. But now a days I just keep them in my 2x2 boxes - separated by type (ddo/ddr, clashes, etc). Because my collection of goodies is small right now - it works ok. Someday I hope to use the spreadsheets again.
Thankyou

[Antiquity]

As for varieties, since I have only found a handfull in my short time of searching I just keep them in a small 2x2 album. Everything else is either in a dansco book or a whitman slab box. And anything expensive goes in the safety deposit box. I do have an organized "mess" of early wheats and random collectibles sitting under my desk.

But I have a system, if someone asked me to find a coin I could do it within 2 minutes. Thats just the neat freak in me!

[coop]

I use Excel to keep track of my doubled dies and RPMs in two separate sheets. The problem I have is remembering to save this on a separate source. I've had computer die through the years and loose information. I've tried to remember, but it get's you every time. The rest of the coins just rest in tubes.

[liveandievarieties]

Guess I'm pretty old school Casey, but I hate keeping lists. I sort inventory into 2x2 stock boxes of different types- Wheats, Memorials, Die Varieties by date, mm, and classification number. I'm far from organized, but keeping some assemblence of order saves me days or weeks of time maintaining a list. I just go to the box where I know a specific coin would reside. Actually, I remember all my coins in my head, at least the ones I buy and sell, but just an orderly stock box goes a long ways.

[pman860507]

Richard,
Do you only put what you have on the excel sheets or do you have a list of all majors that you have and dont have on them. Also google docs is a good place to back up the files you can view them and always download them back to your PC in excel format. Also thats why you should always back up your PC. I do it every night.

Though i have a 6.5 TB server that holds all the data/videos/music/coin pictures and all that fun stuff.

Thomas,
I also dont have that many variety more errors then anything (which i dont really collect so i just put them away) but remembering exactly whats in the box is what always gets me. Do i have a DDO 003 or DDO 004...hmm i don't remember so i would have to try to find it in the box. This is really why i want to have a nice system to see what i own and i time goes by i know my collection will get bigger.

Chirs,
I completely understand if i was a major coin dealer buying and selling 100's of coins at a time i would hate to have to update the list everyday. it would take way more time then to just look in your box. Since the coins i have i will stay in my collection until i upgrade them then its no so bad.


Roger,
Feel free to use the blank spread sheet you can download it and make it your own.

Another thing with the spread sheet i want to know what grade each coin i have (not an exact grade but close). Which is a lot easier to just look up. When thinking about upgrading especially when I'm not at home.

[hasfam]

I use several red boxes to seperate the varieties and errors. As one particular grouping increases, I seperate it out to it's own box. For example. I may start with an RPM box, nearest date to farthest date. Then as my 1960-D RPMs out grew the box I moved them to their own box. Everything is in date order. I also track everything on excel with all the major listing numbers on the headers, with a note ie; top 100, CC star rating, etc. I break down everything on the excel and name each tab or sheet. I seperate all the dbl cols/extra feet etc into one sheet, all the 2009's DDO/DDR's are on another, DDO's/DDR's/RPM's and so on. I also use the hyperlink function on excel by highlighting a coin and hyperlinking it to a photo I took of it stored in a file on my harddrive. (hyperlink doesn't mean just internet)I don't list what I don't have. I have lists that I have downloaded from LCR on my desktop and when i get one of the coins on a list, I highlite in yellow, save and close. I back everything up on a 8 gig flash drive.
I don't do this organization everyday, it's too much work and keeps me from searching. I will devote a day to catching everything up every 6-8 weeks or if the finds have been fast and furious, more often.

[coinman2009]

Old school, 2x2's in boxes, slabs in boxes, try to remember my organization. No time for lists, computer not that trusty.

[coop]

I just list the coins I have on my excel programs. Let's see if this will post? No it jumbles it.

[Rollem]

Well I have the perfect answer, go below download sheet you like:

http://www.lincolncentresource.com/Checklists/checklists.html

I did the Brad's basic.. first thing I added was 1956 rpm 1.

Now I keep them back and will add them to the list. My grand sons make flips and I label them and they insert.
Most recent finds are here at computer and exam desk some my wife put in bedroom under bed some are in basement a few in kitchen hey be right back and finish. I will look around and find where the others are.
I have 2011p all over.

Be right back
James

[coop]

My list is similar, but includes the die numbers for 4 sources, if I have duplcates, locations of stored extras, die state, some markers just for RPMs, and a separate spread sheet for doubled dies.

[RWBILLER]

Rich
Can you give me a copy? I will pm you with my email. That sounds like a very good spreadsheet.
Thankyou

[jcuve]

I too have a computer file listing what I have. I just have to remember to update it...

[EE1969]

Wow, I'm old school, paper ledger. Every coin gets a unique sequential ID number, description, grade, how acquired and comments.
It works for me. :-)

[thecentcollector]

I actually have a half-started inventory management setup here that I programmed. I stopped on it to concentrate on the larger project at hand, but the collection management system will be a part of that bigger project eventually ;)

However, my system would have incorporated generated labels with unique ID's, allowing me to place those labels directly with/on the flips, and make it easier to track items. At the moment, I simply rely on a few binders with 2x2 pages, and some separators describing each section. It's fairly easy to locate something given the binder you're looking at.