When it comes to coin collecting, one of the early questions you will have to ask yourself is, “How am I going to catalog my coins“? It is a fair question and one that collectors have had to ask themselves for generations. The challenge is, once you pick a particular numbering system to catalog your coins, you are probably stuck with it for good. Can you imaging having to re-catalog hundreds of coins? Me either.
This Quick Tip is how I number and catalog my own collection. I will say right now it is not perfect and it may not work best for you. But it does work for me and if you are new to collecting, it may be a good foundation for you to use.
I’ll start first by saying that I am assuming in this post that you are using an app on your Windows PC or Mac to catalog your coins. If not, you may want to consider one and there are some great options out there. Personally, for Windows I suggest Liberty Street Software’s CoinManage. You can also get it for Mac. Personally, I use US Coin from SaintSoft on my Mac.
Now, let’s get to the numbering system itself. Mine is very basic it works and it expands as I add more coins to my collection.
- 0001-0999: Cents
- 1000-1999: Nickels
- 2000-2999: Dimes
- 3000-3999: Quarters
- 4000-4999: Half Dollars
- 5000-5999: Dollars
- 6000-6999: Tokens, Commemoratives, Bullion Coins (American Eagles)
- 7000-7999: Mint & Proof Sets
- 8000-8999: Rolls (Any Denomination)
- 9000-9999: Gold Coins
So the most obvious question: What happens when I get past 999 coins of any particular denomination. I simply add a dash and start again. So for Cents, I would start at 0001-0001 for coin my 1,000th Cent. Then it would go 0001-0002, 0001-0003 and so forth. This gives me expandability to my collection without having to completely renumber.
As I put in my early comments, this system may not be the best for everyone and I encourage readers to comment with how they have worked out the numbering system for their own collection. The beauty here is there is no right or wrong answer. It is a matter of finding the one that works best for you.
For more tips like this, be sure to check out the Tips & Tricks section of the site.