intro and question about creating an inventory

Hi-
I'm a new member to the forum. My father has been a long time collector on and off over the years. Over the past 5 years he has added a number of coins to his collection and we have gone to a few coin shows together. It's been a nice way for us to connect and I've learned a ton from reading this board, other sites and attending the shows. Thank you to everyone for sharing what you know.
My father collects mostly morgans although he has a number other US coins. He is not very well organized and I was finally able to convince him to get all coins out of the house and into a safety deposit box. I was concerned about theft and also that something would get misplaced. I know from reading here that my dad probably made some of the common mistakes (raw coins on ebay etc), but I think we have learned that lesson.
My next task is to create a complete inventory of his collection so that we can identify items of value that should be kept at the bank and also identify any missing coins in his morgan set that he might want to add in the future. He doesn't really know what he has and therefore has some holes and also duplicates. I'm not sure if a completed set is his goal or if he just wants to have a nice set of coins to enjoy. At a minimum it will be more organized, safer, and he will know what he needs to complete the set.
I'm a bit overwhelmed by creating the inventory. Any advice on what to do/what is a waste of time would be appreciated. I'm planning on using excel to capture the coin information, price paid (if available), and current pcgs price guide value.
Comments
Excel works great. PCGS price guide is a good start if they are graded. Any raw coins I would look at eBay completed listings or use about 60% of any published retail price guide for a rough estimate.
Welcome. Don't feel overwhelmed. Take your time and enjoy the inventory!
Welcome!
I don't have much advice for you but I would leave off the current PCGS price guide value. The value given usually isn't indicative of the market and can change often, depending on the coin.
Also, if he has a lot of low dollar (under $25 or so) just bunch them all into a category and accumulate total cost and add to it and the coin. Just my 2c
Welcome.
I agree to start with an Excel spreadsheet. You can always add columns but start with the denomination, date, mint, description. grade, grader (if not raw), purchase amount, where you bought it and purchase date.
Don't worry about assigning a value now. You can go through the spreadsheet later and fill that in once you determine how you will value each coin. The only time you can be sure of a coins value is when you sell it.
Why not use the PCGS inventory? It is easy and does some of the work for you.
Welcome and enjoy the forum.
I'm 70+ in age and if my kid said I need to put the coins in a SDB I'd tell him to pound sand. I enjoy my coins and would never consider locking them up.....except at home. I have insurance and all are replaceable except one and that one is at the Bank. So, he might have them at home to enjoy. Does he really want your help or are you meddling? It seems to me these are his, not your, coins.
Are you collecting for yourself? If so what is your passion?
bob:)
DIMEMAN- I didn't know about PCGS inventory. I just did a quick read and it seems great. can it be used for non pcgs coins? My dad has some NGC and raw coins.
TopographicOceans- thanks for the advice. I have very few receipts so was trying to have some sense of value. I'll focus on that part later.
morganman94- yup value is all over the place. I like the idea of a low value category.
Bob- Yes I understand about being told to pound sand. It's my dad's collection and he is ok with having them at the bank. Trying to help and not meddle. I wouldn't have pushed it if he wanted them home. I understand that storing in SDB box is not perfect. I don't know much about the insurance, but figured that was expensive and would require a detailed inventory so didn't pursue that option.
As for me yes I have started to collect and have a few morgan's. I also like WLH/Mercs/gold/Barbers... I could go on and on about what I like, but need to figure that out. I don't think moderns are for me.
create a draft of the spreadsheet layout on paper first. You need to identify all of the info (columns) that will be required to meet your needs. Keep it simple. When using excel "save" often, mistakes are unforgiving and the easiest way to recover from them is to back out and reopen the file. If you're not going to take advantage of excel's formula feature (mathematical calculations) then I would advise creating your records in "MS Word" using the "table" function. Word is much more forgiving when it comes to making and correcting mistakes.
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If you join the ANA you can get insurance from Hugh Woods that is really, really affordable. Might want to look at threads (do a search here) on insurance. Post a coin or two when you can, especially pretty CC's (my love). lol
bob
Your homeowners policy doesn't cover collectables. If you have a Morgan dollar worth $500 and is lost/destroyed, the insurance company will pay you a $1 for it.
If you join the ANA for $20 a year you can get insurance through Hugh Wood Inc.
I believe their rates are $0.25 per $100 stored in a bank SDB, $0.35 per $100 stored at home and $0.55 per $100 for both plus during transit. You only need to document coins valued at $10,000 or more.
A Handbook of Us Coins is useful
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It seems most folks have Excel and I would recommend recording information into your own Excel spreadsheets. They are easy to prepare and you can customize them in any way you need. Good luck.
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Thanks everyone for the info! I'll get cracking on the inventory and look into the insurance option.
Welcome...and I use excel as well.
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I used to use an excel spreadsheet, but have since moved my inventory to google docs. I like having each set or grouping on a separate page. When I am away from home they are easily accessed on my android phone. I recently started to enter information into the PCGS inventory and have found it to be very nice also. I have not tried to see if it is available on my mobile device. Maybe someone else can answer that. Welcome, by the way.
One more thing your coins or his coins, Cash or any thing you put in the box's are not FDIC insured. I know of a bank that got hit by a crew that was working the Inland Empire banks and all of the SDB got hit and the fed's paid no one, when the bank manger ask why did we not rec a memo on this. They said why would we do that it's not are money and they will never get caught. You guys will put alarms and they will not try to get in any more and they will pass on all or most of the banks in the area. That's smart on the Feds but sucks for the people.
Hoard the keys.
Creating an inventory is a great idea for the collection for the basis of knowing what you have without actually having to sift through it. You can also print out the inventory and take it to shows to make sure that you buy what you don't have. The other more important thing that it is for would be for that inevitable end of life scenario. It happens to us all at some point. The more well informed the family is the more they know about what to do with the collection when the time comes. Keep in mind though that adding price guide prices to the inventory sheets are only as good as what the coins are currently worth. Coin values are subject to change, and may not be accurate one year, five years, or twenty years down the road. I think that it would be best to keep a price guide with the collection, and to replace it with an updated version something like every six months to a year. A good example would be a redbook to stash with the collection.
@jdownes... Welcome aboard... It is great that you are enjoying coin collecting with your Dad.... will make for enjoyable times together. Cheers, RickO
Taking inventory is key to knowing which way the collection is headed. Good for you and your dad.
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Welcome and you asked a pertinent question, have fun and enjoy your coins.
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Do not forget that the IRS requires reporting of all income, including that from collectibles. For this reason make sure your inventory spreadsheet includes data you will need for tax purposes, i.e dates bought and sold, prices paid and received, and selling expenses such as fees and postage. As an individual buyer and seller who does not operate a store, I treat coins as an investment rather than a business inventory; much simpler reporting requirements. Reporting is the same as stock investments.
Also, keep your spreadsheet as maintenance free as possible. I don't bother with "current value," as it is constantly changing. What matters is what I paid and what I sold it for. If you keep your coins in more than one location (i.e. home safe and a safe deposit box) good idea for it to be reflected on your spreadsheet for the benefit of your heirs or an insurance claim.
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You must learn to grade and spot cleaned, dipped, whizzed, and other surface alterations. Use the information available on this site and adopt PCGS standards.
The PCGS inventory allows all TPG's and raw as well.
+1 and welcome to the boards jdownes!
@DIMEMAN
I never new that but I will check it out, thanks for the info.
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Except for raw coins, I use the PCGS "My Inventory" function. You can enter both PCGS and non-PCGS TPG coins (and I guess even raw coins if you have them each identifiable by some sort of personal cataloging system). Besides that, you can enter date of purchase, what you paid, and the source the coin. PCGS' valuation is automated for PCGS coins, and you can over-ride the entry. Finally, you can enter your own notes, and photographs (your own photos and those from PCGS are displayed).
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Welcome.
Some good responses so far.
For me, what I did starting out, and what I have helped a few others with, was to use Excel. Over time, I have added columns as it made since.
I would have a tab for graded coins and a separate tab for raw coins.
Do you currently have a sense of overall value? If not, do you have a redbook? It isn't perfect but will give you an easy reference offline and help you to potentially identify coins that are in different value levels.
I also break my excel spreadsheet up into groupings:
Colonials
1/2 cents
FE and IHC (mint state strikes)
IHC Proofs
Lincolns
etc etc etc
In each one, have columns that are pertinent to you and the coin:
Year
Mintmark
Grade (if graded or estimated/your grade if raw)
TPGS (3rd party grading service...ie PCGS/NGC/ANACS/etc)
Certification #
Cost (if known) (you can either add another column for additional costs (grading, postage, etc) or just include it in
Current value & Date (if you want to use PCGS price guide/greysheet/etc....just gives you a snapshot idea...I also include the date in the heading for this one so I know when the snapshot was taken)
Any notes (ie...describe toning, anything special about the coin, etc)
Where acquired (ebay/who/dealer/show/etc)
Date acquired
Location (SDB #1, home, Dansco 7070, etc)
You can add in a Date Sold....or you can add another tab for sold items and use Date sold as well and sold price
(this starts to give you an idea if things aren't going so well, where the coin is in case you were looking for it, etc)
You can always add other columns that you find useful, or not use so many if you don't want to.
With excel, if your system is somewhat static, and if you have photos, you can link them to a cell for the coin and, when you are perusing your spreadsheet, if you have them, you can just click and look at the photo.
Good for you in doing this for your dad......be gentle with him if some are cleaned, etc, as he may like them and get defensive.
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Thanks to everyone for the ideas and welcomes. I really appreciate it.
I did try PCGS my inventory with a few coins and no surprise it's really cool for, especially for PCGS coins. This is linked to set registry and you can keep your inventory private. You can import/export from excel so you could keep a personal copy offline if you want. It's pretty easy to use and either pulls in trueview photos or you can upload your own. Also it says it in the instructions, but I thought I would reiterate not to include your name or other personal info in the file name of an upload as the file name is available for search engines. I did add a couple of PCGS coins to the my inventory and will play around with it some more.
For my dads collection I'm going use excel because of the mix of raw, pcgs/ngc, and other tpg's. @Bochiman I'm going to start with your suggestion of a tab for raw and graded. I like the columns on your list and I'm going to add a CAC (Y/N) and another for receipt (Y/N). I have a red book so I will use that for a general sense of value instead of the PCGS price guide. My dad has no plans to sell, but easy enough to add that info in the future.
@AUandAG I don't have any photos to share yet. I can try that after I make some progress on the inventory. Lastly I don't own any cc's, but I hope to change that someday.
Count me as a fan of PCGS's inventory site. You can add PCGS and non-PCGS coins, cite the important data (where and when bought, varieties, even photos), and it will always be there when you change computers, suffer a disk failure, etc.
You can maintain it across platforms (PC/Mac, tablets and mobile phones). And it will be available wherever you have wi-fi or cell service. Values are calculated for your automatically, if you are realistic about grading and condition.
I like spreadsheets as much as the next guy. But the inventory s/w is a wonderful alternative.
Lance.