Today’s Mail Bag question comes from Robert F and it is one I’ve been asked about a lot. Robert reached me via the contact form on the About page, which you can do too if you have a questions.
Hi,
I want to know what software you use to manage your coin collection. I have been looking for something other than Excel, which I use now, so I can add photos of my coins.
Robert F
First Robert, thanks for taking time to write. Your software choices are going to depend to an extent on what platform you are using, Windows or MacOS. I personally use a Mac but I’ve used Windows machines in the past. For Windows, in my view, Liberty Street Software’s CoinManage is the best one out there. It is well designed and easy to use with a lot of information that you can put into it about each of your coins. You can also add photos of your coins easily within the app. CoinManage downloads the latest bullion prices automatically and ties coins to the PCGS coin database so you can easily find out facts about that coin. It also updates regularly the coin values database in it so you get a consistently accurate picture of the value of your collection. Finally, and most recently, they have added a cloud-based backup solution into CoinManage so you will not lose your collection information if your Windows PC were to crash.
CoinManage starts at $39.95 for electronic delivery but can be ordered on physical media (CD) if you want it that way. To get more details, head to the Liberty Street page for the app.
When you are on the CoinManage page at Liberty Street, you will notice that there is a link to the Mac version of the app from the Mac App Store. This is a very new app that launched at the beginning of this year. I took a look at it and right now, it feels very much like a work in progress. I can’t really recommend it yet but I suspect that Liberty Street will continue to update and refine it. They currently are releasing a major update to the app about once a month. Further Robert, it doesn’t meet a key criteria for you. Right now, the Mac version of CoinManage will not allow you to add a photos of your coins to your coin records.
Still, check it out. You can find it in the Mac App Store and it is $29.95.
For MacOS, the best collecting software I’ve found is US Coins from SaintSoft. It is a robust app, bringing a lot of the exact same feature of CoinManage for Windows to MacOS. It too is linked to PCGS’ catalog of coins, has current bullion prices, and allows you to add photos of your coins to your collection. It has built-in and customizable reports, like CoinManage, and allows you to create custom fields for your coins. For example, I have one that allows me to flag a coins as one that I want to send out for grading. US Coins also has a cloud-based back up built into the app, leveraging Dropbox to do that.
One of the really cool features of US Coin is that there are also iOS versions for iPhone and iPad. This is really handy when you are at a coin show or coin shop and want to see if you already have a coin you are considering buying or upgrading. It is also a fun way to show off your collection to friends without having to lug your MacBook around.
US Coin from SaintSoft is $49.95 for Mac while the mobile versions of the app is $19.95.
With all this said Robert, none of these apps are perfect. There are things that I would change about each of them. For example, CoinManage’s reporting tools are not intuitive at all and customizing fields you want to see on your screen are difficult to set up. US Coin doesn’t handle rolls very well. So none of them are perfect. Like any software however, the key is when the developers listen to users and frequently update their apps. In both cases, both developers are continually updating the apps. Further, both have a roadmap of features they plan to add to the apps (sorry, was told to me in confidence so I can’t share it) that are really going to make them even better.
So there you go Robert, I hope either CoinManage for Windows or US Coin for Mac does the job for you.