Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Software for Collection of artifacts and valuables?

Ian · 28th July 2021, 04:28 PM

Lee,

I recently had to catalogue all my items before shipping them to Australia. This was necessary for insurance purposes, to deal with Australian Customs officials, and to navigate the strict laws in Australia regarding documentation of edged weapons and their ownership. Since I had over a thousand pieces to itemize, it was necessary to have a simple software system for my records and a corresponding tag for each item that identified its catalog number and linked it to my records.

For digital records, I chose to use a series of Excel spreadsheets, with each sheet denoting a particular geographical region or country. These spreadsheets were collected into two workbooks, one for Philippine items and one for everything else.

Because I have more items from the Philippines than anywhere else, I broke these into geographic or ethnic groups, with individual spreadsheets for Moro (MOR), Lumad (LUM), Visayan (VIS), and Luzon (LUZ). For the second workbook I had individual spreadsheets for: Africa (AFR), Mediterranean (MED), India/South Asia (IND), Mainland SE Asia (MSEA), Indonesia (INDO), China (CHI), European (EUR), South American (SAM), and Miscellaneous (MISC).

Each item was given a number and tag. Within each category, items were numbered sequentially in order of their date of acquisition. For example, the Moro collection was numbered MOR1001 to MOR1112, the South American items SAM1001 to SAM1054, etc.

Each spreadsheet had columns for:

Catalogue No.
Date of Acquisition
How Acquired [1 = Antique Shop, Dealer Estate sale, Gun show; 2 = eBay; 3 = Other Online Site; 4 = Auction; 5 = Collector/Private Sale; 7 = Traded Item; 9 = Other (inherited, gift, etc.)]
General Description
Dimensions
Total cost [item + postage/insurance/customs duty, etc.]
Current Valuation
Date of Sale
Purchaser's Name and Address
Total Sale Price [including postage, insurance]
Costs Incurred [repairs, postage, insurance, packaging, etc.]
Net Sale
Profit/(Loss)
Thumbnail Picture of Item
Notes/References/Special Features

It took three months to completely catalogue and photograph all my items. The effort was worth it when dealing with the Australian bureaucracy!

The financial data are important because i doubt that I will have disposed of all these items before my demise and I don't want my wife and kids to have a big problem with them. I've arranged that whatever is left over (and they don't want to keep) will go to auction with my valuation as the minimum price for each item.

There is also the issue of my book collection relating to edged weapons. The books will be sold online, hopefully here in the Swap Forum. Each book has been catalogued in a similar manner to the weapons.

28th July 2021, 04:28 PM	#8
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,037	Keep it Simple ... but with all the information you need Lee, I recently had to catalogue all my items before shipping them to Australia. This was necessary for insurance purposes, to deal with Australian Customs officials, and to navigate the strict laws in Australia regarding documentation of edged weapons and their ownership. Since I had over a thousand pieces to itemize, it was necessary to have a simple software system for my records and a corresponding tag for each item that identified its catalog number and linked it to my records. For digital records, I chose to use a series of Excel spreadsheets, with each sheet denoting a particular geographical region or country. These spreadsheets were collected into two workbooks, one for Philippine items and one for everything else. Because I have more items from the Philippines than anywhere else, I broke these into geographic or ethnic groups, with individual spreadsheets for Moro (MOR), Lumad (LUM), Visayan (VIS), and Luzon (LUZ). For the second workbook I had individual spreadsheets for: Africa (AFR), Mediterranean (MED), India/South Asia (IND), Mainland SE Asia (MSEA), Indonesia (INDO), China (CHI), European (EUR), South American (SAM), and Miscellaneous (MISC). Each item was given a number and tag. Within each category, items were numbered sequentially in order of their date of acquisition. For example, the Moro collection was numbered MOR1001 to MOR1112, the South American items SAM1001 to SAM1054, etc. Each spreadsheet had columns for: Catalogue No. Date of Acquisition How Acquired [1 = Antique Shop, Dealer Estate sale, Gun show; 2 = eBay; 3 = Other Online Site; 4 = Auction; 5 = Collector/Private Sale; 7 = Traded Item; 9 = Other (inherited, gift, etc.)] General Description Dimensions Total cost [item + postage/insurance/customs duty, etc.] Current Valuation Date of Sale Purchaser's Name and Address Total Sale Price [including postage, insurance] Costs Incurred [repairs, postage, insurance, packaging, etc.] Net Sale Profit/(Loss) Thumbnail Picture of Item Notes/References/Special Features It took three months to completely catalogue and photograph all my items. The effort was worth it when dealing with the Australian bureaucracy! The financial data are important because i doubt that I will have disposed of all these items before my demise and I don't want my wife and kids to have a big problem with them. I've arranged that whatever is left over (and they don't want to keep) will go to auction with my valuation as the minimum price for each item. There is also the issue of my book collection relating to edged weapons. The books will be sold online, hopefully here in the Swap Forum. Each book has been catalogued in a similar manner to the weapons.