How Do You Catalog Your Stamps

I just wondered how you all catalog your stamps? Right now I use a book with scott catalog numbers but it is old and outdated. I was thinking of using some sort of software, any thoughts on this? And is there a good software program out there to catalog USA stamps?

I'm new to the stamp collecting myself but I'm going to work on listing things using a spreadsheet format for digital purposes. Then I'll print out a tiny card to insert into each binder's front pocket listing the entire contents.

The binders will be individually numbered so I can reference them accordingly...i.e. binder 1 on the spreadsheet will have a 'binder one' label made and a 'binder one' tiny card to go with it. Label goes on binder, tiny card goes inside binder, spreadsheet numbered accordingly. Seems pretty basic to me.

The only way my stamps see much organization is when they make it into my albums. The rest are relegated to Hagner stock sheets, envelopes, or the dreaded bin. It's a bit of a classist system, but it works for me (because I'm just not that organized!:)

What's the purpose of wasting time to catalog stamps .........As a experience buyer of many hundreds of collections and talking with stamp auction houses buyers the whole subject of list or inventories that come with stamp inventories or collections are rejected almost right away . To let you know what I am talking about ,I sat next to both "Dr. BOB" and New York Stamps buyers thru 10 or 15 stamp auction reviews and we spend days together sitting talking and looking at hundreds if not thousands of stamp accumulations . Inventories are mostly inaccurate and with plenty of wishful thinking by the previous owners .Today I am breaking down a huge lot which is a stamp dealers sale pages binders and even that has a lot of errors and wishful descriptions as to condition and quality . Any buyer looking at your inventory work sheets will reject it almost within 5 minutes of wanting to make their determination of value .

All of our "listing stock" is in a catalogue order in stock books so as to make image preparation for listing as easy as possible.

But one stock book will have the letter rate stamps set in it and a 2nd stock book will have the high denominations in it for the same era + another stock book will have all the international post stamps in it for the same era as well.

Our listings are in catalogue order!

I use a simple spreadsheet with the fields below. I only include catalog values so I have some idea what I'll pay for stamps I need. I use the 'Need' column almost like a special want list. If one stamp is missing from a series, it gets marked.

The good thing about Excel is that it's flexible. If you're good with formulas, you can do counts really quickly. You can also copy your main sheet and sort different ways.

If you enjoy a complicated catalog, do it. There are a lot of different aspects to stamp collecting and different people like different tasks.

Country
Type
Scott Number
Denomination
Catalog Mint
Catalog Used
Have
Need
Used/Mint
Notes

I keep listing in Spreadsheet and scan the item mayit be singles,
pair, blocks, or sheet etc.

Routes are pre organised items and then Organised.
Organise one are in Stock Sheets.
all others in Envelopes,Glassine Books and stock sheets.

tikithindi

I'm not worried about monetary values and such. If I find a stamp of particular value I'll be having someone else look at it to ascertain it's value. For me, cataloging is all about knowing what I've got, where it is and how fast I can access it if I or someone else is interested in it. I can understand why most folks wouldn't want to spend energy on this, but it makes me feel better having some sense of organization here.

Plus it will force me to research my stamps on an individual basis to figure out what year they were made, and other details about their origins. Mini-history lessons in the making.

I catalog to know what I have also.

I'm in this category also. When I put it in the book it is done.

Where I need to organize is with the FDC's I have.
Tom

I pretty much do as davenumber40 has outlined. Excel works great for me. I do add a field with a three digit code (such as AAA or 111, etc.) in order to identify the album or binder where the item is located. If you have a lot of binders or boxes of stamps, it helps greatly to go to that Excel spreadsheet and find the exact location of the stamp(s) you're looking for as opposed to searching album after album for it.

This is all hypothetical on my part as I literally just got into this with serious intentions. The way I'm planning on running my spreadsheet inventory is:

Country
*Year or general era
*Denominations
*Special editions or commemoratives
*Potential value (if any) once assayed
*Solid sheets

This info will be printed correspondingly on a tiny sheet like I'd mentioned before, then filed inside each album so when I pull the spread sheet, match the album number and open it up I can verify that it's 100% the correct album.


For numbering, I'd do abbreviated country initials, then three digits as indicated previously. So for USA stamps it'd be pretty simple: USA-001, USA-002, etc.

If I had albums of significant importance, like my wartime collection I'm hoping to flush out, it will be marked by the war period and three digit number system. So it'd be something like: WW1-001, WW2-001, KRW-001 (Korean War), VNW-001 (Viet Nam War) etc.

Right now I'm moving all my loose, paper free stamps into protective sleeves just to ensure they have cover. When I can get more sleeves for better organization I will separate and implement my cataloging system.

I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive so despite this seeming like a lot of menial tasks it's something that gives me an outlet to focus my energy on while also getting something useful accomplished.

I'm with floortrader on this topic; my collection is growing quite quickly and, if I tried to inventory it, there would be a growing pile of unprocessed material sitting around for months. Besides, my time is limited and I'd rather use it handling stamps, not a keyboard. Most of my purchasing is online, so I don't need to carry lists around to tell me what I already own; I can just look. If I go to a stamp show, I'm usually looking for some specific items.

I'm not knocking those who get pleasure from using the stamp s/w; good for you if you enjoy it, but it wouldn't light my fuse.

Cataloging isn't for everyone. I think I inherited it from my father. He has a massive book collection and spends hours every weekend ensuring his latest acquisitions are properly indexed and filed for later reading. With over 20,000 book in his library, he's read all but maybe 1 small boxful (always the new box to be indexed) and everything is categorized, indexed and shelved accordingly.

I keep track of everything with EZStamp, and do so religiously. As soon as something comes in, I catalog it ASAP as part of my "inspection" process to try and prevent a massive pileup of items I have to inventory.

Dan

I always plan to use Datacrow to catalog everything. But I can never find the time.