I'm trying to go small but high quality so I have a few danscos and one case. Over time I'm likely going to organize by series or set and just record in Excel but in trying super hard to not just buy all the things I like or want and focus on the end goal for me. if yours is already large you can just do a little bit at a time but make sure you add every new coin.
Thanks for the tip about OpenNumismat. I love open source software solutions.
I have a small collection so it went into the Numista website fairly easily. I think I can even export from there then presumably import it to OpenNumismat.
There was a person posting about getting better photos with their macro lens and the white balance setup but I'd have to dig through reddit to find it. I'm kind of surprised with how mature a market coins are that there aren't set photo specifications. "No, no, set your white balance to..."
The AWB does a pretty good job imo. Just the same, you can calibrate for your lighting and then setup a profile in your camera.
AFAIK the standard is to shoot with natural light. Although I have seen certain cases where uv lighting is used. Not opposed to uv but I think it just confuses most people
Sometimes people shoot with 3000k (warm) lighting -- this is why you see gold colored silver coins 😂 so yeah... don't do that.
My DIY setup is a pair of Sansi 5000k dimmable lights, neewer e26 lamp holders, some pvc pipes + 2x stanley multi angle vise. Total cost was about $100 IIRC.
I can shoot with axial (i just use a piece of clear plexiglass) or direct lighting. I use a piece of paper as a diffuser.
I use a dark sheet to eliminate light pollution and have calibrated my setup at 5100k.
Professional photographers typically shoot well above 5000k but those lights are $$$$$ and I don't think most people can actually tell the difference.
Since I did this kind of work before retiring, I ‘rolled’ my own database in MS Access. It contains everything I know about the coin, namely acquisition info (who, where, costs, etc), certification info (if any), variety/specialty info, valuation (based on NGC, PCGS, GREYSHEET & NUMISMEDIA price guide data), storage/location, photos (made a dedicated photo setup to make my own images if none available or poor quality from m source - like eBay 🤬), disposition info (to whom, when, realized amounts, etc for possible income taxes if needed). Also added reporting to create and print lists of inventory and individual record sheets for each item to put into a catalog style binder for easy reference when needed. Rolling my own allows me to tweak the format as needed without hoping and waiting for a company to do it. Maybe this is a bit of overkill for most, but being a retired engineer, I like to tinker 😉
This was my original plan, except I despise Access so I was trying mySQL but didn’t want to put in the work/time to format to my liking, then finally be able to enter everything. OpenNumismat was a decent compromise being open source. The UI is clunky tho and there’s some irrelevant fields that clutter things up. Maybe one day I’ll build out a DB and simple web GUI to mange my coins.
I’m not a fanboy of Access but it is relatively easy to throw something together quickly and I can make a quick change on the fly if I find something isn’t quite how I want it. This way I can tailor the design to the two facets of coin collecting I focus on, namely Morgan Dollar VAMs and Classic Commemoratives.
Back in the day I did a lot of dBase III development using Clipper (compiled .PRG command scripts - oh boy, guess I’ve gone and gave away my age 😜).
Also, how do you take pictures of your coins? I recently bought a 40x-1000x microscope, but I realized it’s not good for pictures of whole coins. I can’t quite get a good pic with my phone either (iPhone 13 mini) maybe I need to get a better camera if I want better pics?
Honestly a good camera and macro lens is the best option. I use a sigma 105mm on a sony A7C and occasionally a laowa ultra macro.
You can find a new sony a7c or a7r2 on clearance around black Friday (or maybe prime day too).
The camera in an iphone pro or pixel pro with a macro lens is also an option but you will also need a tripod or copy stand and the options for professional cameras are better.
You can also play around with some vintage lenses for macro. You can potentially get a better setup for less money but you'll have a harder time doing focus stacking without AF.
I just ordered a tripod for my phone and a UV glass filter lens. Using this schematic as a reference. Yeah it won’t be top quality but it should be a nice upgrade.
https://preview.redd.it/x7lfrruvwi9d1.jpeg?width=302&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e73ba1a4e6170a235e697cfc0d2669f9f75d8dba
I don't think a uv filter will do anything. Most digital cameras already have a uv filter built in.
There are a few macro lenses for the iPhone though. those might actually do something for you.
I'm using Google sheets + photos/drive. When i get a new coin I assign it an id. The coin is labeled with the id, photographed, and cataloged.
An aside does anyone have a good label printer ? I'm using a cheapo hp laserjet and would like to switch to archival ink but haven't been able to find a bw only archival printer and don't want to spend $$$$$ maintaining cyan and magenta cartridges 😅
The info I store in the catalog is what it is, cert details, where I got it, the cost, and where it's located. I also include "extra info" or annotations that don't necessarily fit into a standard model. These annotations, as i call them, can be links, documents, forum posts, auction receipts, link to census/population, etc or just a note like "resubmit with variety".
Set Registry for my graded coins.
3-ring binders for loose/raw coins, slab boxes for slabs as well as silver, bullion, small stuff. Good ol fashioned graph paper and pencil for inventory, with folders for receipts and notes etc.
Some stuff is in a safe deposit box, most stuff is at home, separate inventories for each.
I'm trying to go small but high quality so I have a few danscos and one case. Over time I'm likely going to organize by series or set and just record in Excel but in trying super hard to not just buy all the things I like or want and focus on the end goal for me. if yours is already large you can just do a little bit at a time but make sure you add every new coin.
This is my approach too. I sold a ton of stuff and bought a few really nice pieces
Thanks for the tip about OpenNumismat. I love open source software solutions. I have a small collection so it went into the Numista website fairly easily. I think I can even export from there then presumably import it to OpenNumismat. There was a person posting about getting better photos with their macro lens and the white balance setup but I'd have to dig through reddit to find it. I'm kind of surprised with how mature a market coins are that there aren't set photo specifications. "No, no, set your white balance to..."
The AWB does a pretty good job imo. Just the same, you can calibrate for your lighting and then setup a profile in your camera. AFAIK the standard is to shoot with natural light. Although I have seen certain cases where uv lighting is used. Not opposed to uv but I think it just confuses most people Sometimes people shoot with 3000k (warm) lighting -- this is why you see gold colored silver coins 😂 so yeah... don't do that. My DIY setup is a pair of Sansi 5000k dimmable lights, neewer e26 lamp holders, some pvc pipes + 2x stanley multi angle vise. Total cost was about $100 IIRC. I can shoot with axial (i just use a piece of clear plexiglass) or direct lighting. I use a piece of paper as a diffuser. I use a dark sheet to eliminate light pollution and have calibrated my setup at 5100k. Professional photographers typically shoot well above 5000k but those lights are $$$$$ and I don't think most people can actually tell the difference.
Yep you can import directly from Numista. How is Numista though? I don’t have an account.
It's just a basic list really. Some rough grading info you can add.
Excel.
I use numista, Aside from that I just check the type set's checklist glossary.
I use numista. I can then export a csv to manipulate how I want. I go quantity and types/dates so have something like 11,000 coins.
Since I did this kind of work before retiring, I ‘rolled’ my own database in MS Access. It contains everything I know about the coin, namely acquisition info (who, where, costs, etc), certification info (if any), variety/specialty info, valuation (based on NGC, PCGS, GREYSHEET & NUMISMEDIA price guide data), storage/location, photos (made a dedicated photo setup to make my own images if none available or poor quality from m source - like eBay 🤬), disposition info (to whom, when, realized amounts, etc for possible income taxes if needed). Also added reporting to create and print lists of inventory and individual record sheets for each item to put into a catalog style binder for easy reference when needed. Rolling my own allows me to tweak the format as needed without hoping and waiting for a company to do it. Maybe this is a bit of overkill for most, but being a retired engineer, I like to tinker 😉
This was my original plan, except I despise Access so I was trying mySQL but didn’t want to put in the work/time to format to my liking, then finally be able to enter everything. OpenNumismat was a decent compromise being open source. The UI is clunky tho and there’s some irrelevant fields that clutter things up. Maybe one day I’ll build out a DB and simple web GUI to mange my coins.
I’m not a fanboy of Access but it is relatively easy to throw something together quickly and I can make a quick change on the fly if I find something isn’t quite how I want it. This way I can tailor the design to the two facets of coin collecting I focus on, namely Morgan Dollar VAMs and Classic Commemoratives. Back in the day I did a lot of dBase III development using Clipper (compiled .PRG command scripts - oh boy, guess I’ve gone and gave away my age 😜).
Also, how do you take pictures of your coins? I recently bought a 40x-1000x microscope, but I realized it’s not good for pictures of whole coins. I can’t quite get a good pic with my phone either (iPhone 13 mini) maybe I need to get a better camera if I want better pics?
Have you looked into axial photography? There are some cheap diy setups that might help you even with a phone.
Thank you this is exactly what I need to do!
Honestly a good camera and macro lens is the best option. I use a sigma 105mm on a sony A7C and occasionally a laowa ultra macro. You can find a new sony a7c or a7r2 on clearance around black Friday (or maybe prime day too). The camera in an iphone pro or pixel pro with a macro lens is also an option but you will also need a tripod or copy stand and the options for professional cameras are better. You can also play around with some vintage lenses for macro. You can potentially get a better setup for less money but you'll have a harder time doing focus stacking without AF.
I just ordered a tripod for my phone and a UV glass filter lens. Using this schematic as a reference. Yeah it won’t be top quality but it should be a nice upgrade. https://preview.redd.it/x7lfrruvwi9d1.jpeg?width=302&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e73ba1a4e6170a235e697cfc0d2669f9f75d8dba
I don't think a uv filter will do anything. Most digital cameras already have a uv filter built in. There are a few macro lenses for the iPhone though. those might actually do something for you.
personally I just take a photo of the coin put it into folder and just name it in my phone
I'm using Google sheets + photos/drive. When i get a new coin I assign it an id. The coin is labeled with the id, photographed, and cataloged. An aside does anyone have a good label printer ? I'm using a cheapo hp laserjet and would like to switch to archival ink but haven't been able to find a bw only archival printer and don't want to spend $$$$$ maintaining cyan and magenta cartridges 😅 The info I store in the catalog is what it is, cert details, where I got it, the cost, and where it's located. I also include "extra info" or annotations that don't necessarily fit into a standard model. These annotations, as i call them, can be links, documents, forum posts, auction receipts, link to census/population, etc or just a note like "resubmit with variety".
Set Registry for my graded coins. 3-ring binders for loose/raw coins, slab boxes for slabs as well as silver, bullion, small stuff. Good ol fashioned graph paper and pencil for inventory, with folders for receipts and notes etc. Some stuff is in a safe deposit box, most stuff is at home, separate inventories for each.