A well-documented coin collection log is important to any collector who intends to sell their collection at some point in the future. It provides valuable information regarding the coins’ market value and rarity as well as a detailed history of their ownership. It also helps avoid misplacement or theft of a valuable coin collection.
There are many ways to keep track of a coin collection, but one of the most common is to use a coin inventory book. These are pre-designed books available at coin dealers and bookstores, and are often spiral-bound to make writing on each page easy. Whitman, which publishes the popular Guide Book to United States Coins (better known as “The Red Book”), offers a coin inventory book that is specifically designed for the purpose.
Another option is to create your own coin inventory system using a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. This provides more flexibility in terms of personalization and customization, as you can choose the exact fields to include that are most important for your needs. For example, you may choose to add running totals at the top or bottom of each individual sheet, as this can be very useful in identifying a coin’s overall value within your collection.
In addition, some collectors prefer to organize their coin collections by type rather than date and mintmark. This approach allows them to target a particular focus, such as seeking an example of each type of U.S. 5-cent coin, or collecting coins from a particular country because of an emotional nexus with that land.