Keeping track of one's collection
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:12 pm 
 

I'm curious as to how the collectors on this site keep track of their collections. I use an Excel spreadsheet, where each item is sorted by mod code (B2, C1, etc.), with the non-coded items (DMG, etc.) at the end, in product code order. It's like that because I originally started it to sort out the modules I had, then it grew once I discovered this site and decided that I indeed was a collector. I only have about 200 items total, which I'm sure pales in comparison to others here.

So how do we track our collections?

Beetle


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:30 pm 
 

silver_beetle wrote:I'm curious as to how the collectors on this site keep track of their collections. I use an Excel spreadsheet, where each item is sorted by mod code (B2, C1, etc.), with the non-coded items (DMG, etc.) at the end, in product code order. It's like that because I originally started it to sort out the modules I had, then it grew once I discovered this site and decided that I indeed was a collector. I only have about 200 items total, which I'm sure pales in comparison to others here.

So how do we track our collections?

Beetle


I don't...I just have boxes full of stuff. A terrible system, I know, but what can I say...I have everything I need or want, and its all somewhere in my house, that's all I know....!

Only 200 items?  Welcome to the wonderful world of spending all your available disposable cash!!!!  :twisted:

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:39 pm 
 

I made a list a while back but never kept up on the update.  I would leave things out in stacks so I could update the list but then the stacks grew and I had to put stuff away but still never got around to updating the list.  So at this point I'd just have to start again.

I do however, keep a list of the items I think I still need.

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:48 pm 
 

I use an Excel spreadsheet also, sorted similarly: by game system, publisher, and module code (if any) in that order.  200 items?  Well, that's twice what I have, and half of mine is 3.x/d20, so don't feel too badly.  I probably had 300 - 400 individual items, not to mention miniatures, back before I sold everything I could bear to part with--AD&D-wise I now just have nice specimens of the hardcovers and a double handful of the "classic" modules.  Oh, and the World of Greyhawk boxed set, which I have always adored.

  


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:51 pm 
 

I have word document lists. I do this for a lot of my collections.. a list of all the things I want, red for what I still need, green for what I do have. Works well enough. It's how I sorted my planescape stuff and my Radiohead collections... oh yes... I collect a lot of things. heh


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:08 pm 
 

Hi,

Excel also. I keep everything in boxes (which holds roughly 15 items) and make sure I catalog which box each module is in. Then I can find it easily again if I get a better condition copy in and upgrade it.

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:01 pm 
 

Word document, fairly long one (which could probably use being made into a worksheet at this point.) I update it regularly, though what I wish I could do is get my shelves sorted better.

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:06 pm 
 

list? LIST??!!

mine is all in the back room :)

i know its all in the back room - thats enough info for me. i enjoy the moment of finding something i didnt remember having :D

Al


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:46 pm 
 

killjoy32 wrote:list? LIST??!!

mine is all in the back room :)

i know its all in the back room - thats enough info for me. i enjoy the moment of finding something i didnt remember having :D

Al


I've noticed a trend: the more posts someone has, the less organized their collections seem to be.  :lol:


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:24 pm 
 

silver_beetle wrote:
I've noticed a trend: the more posts someone has, the less organized their collections seem to be.  :lol:


Bingo....!

Although because of this, I do very often have a serendipitous moment when I find multiple copies of something cool...so one of them can go into the old Ebay store and make me some money!
 A funny story is that after I moved three years ago, I looked high and low for the first box in my Dungeon mag collection....it held issues #1-#50.  Never could locate it, thought it either got thrown out, stolen or lost during themove.  So I went ahead and started over...first pulled out of my Ebay store all copies I needed in that range of issues....then over the next year or so located pretty much the rest of the issues I needed.
   Then one day in a trip to my warehouse (storage space, really...), I came upon a box in a corner...there was the original #1-#50!!!!  It was a very nice day, putting the second set up for sale on Ebay!!! Keep hoping that will happen again with, say, Dragon 1-50 or something..... :D

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:44 pm 
 

I track all of the RPG items I have in an Excel spreadsheet.   I'm up to about 1700 rows.

I record the publisher, the game system, the title of item, the sort of item (adventure/campaign setting/etc), the piece code, the module code, the publishing date, the printing date, the isbn number, the condition of the box (if one exists), the condition of the item (or box contents), who I obtained the item from, when I obtained it, the price I paid, and an notes about the item.

I'm a bit overly meticulous.


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:26 pm 
 

I keep trying to organize mine on an excel spreadsheet but everytime I get around to updating it a new shipment arives, lol.


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:32 pm 
 

I have a decreasing collection; I still buy stuff but overall sell more. I started with about 8 boxes 10 years ago. Now I'm down to about 1.5 boxes of material, so I just open the box up and take a look!

My long term goal is one box.

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:37 pm 
 

zhowar wrote:I have a decreasing collection; I still buy stuff but overall sell more. I started with about 8 boxes 10 years ago. Now I'm down to about 1.5 boxes of material, so I just open the box up and take a look!

My long term goal is one box.


I can help - just send me the half box of stuff (I'll pay for shipping) :lol:


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:45 pm 
 

zhowar wrote:I have a decreasing collection; I still buy stuff but overall sell more. I started with about 8 boxes 10 years ago. Now I'm down to about 1.5 boxes of material, so I just open the box up and take a look!

My long term goal is one box.


Finally, another de-collector like myself :)!  I started with about 5 boxes 2 years ago, and I'm down to one bookshelf (about 4 1/2 feet wide) of the "essentials", mostly AD&D 1st edition and D&D 3.5/d20.  Sometimes I miss my complete Dark Sun collection, Forgotten Realms 3.x collection, Planescape stuff, and miscellaneous 2nd edition crap, but mostly I'm happy to forget everything that was published from 1989 - 2003.  

I now monitor my spending by sticking to the "bookshelf rule" (if it don't fit, don't buy it).


Last edited by Radovarl on Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
  

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:46 pm 
 

This is probably going to be considered kind of an oddball way to keep track of what one has but I decided I didnt want to mess with spreadsheets or anything like that.  Instead I created several folders in the My Documents folder on my computer for each type of game (war game, rpg, boardgame, etc.) and inside each folder I have more folders broken down into either publishers (TSR, GDW) or brand (D&D, Traveller, Shadowrun).  In each of those folders is two additional folders:  Want and Have.  I have a .jpg or .bmp of all the items that I own or want.  They aren't scans of the actual items as that would be a massive undertaking....the pics are from different websites such as The Acaeum, Boardgamegeek, or even a pic from an Ebay auction.

When I acquire one of the "wants" I simply move the pic to the Have folder.  This way I don't bid on stuff I already have and I don't have to spend ten minutes typing everything into a convoluted spreadsheet.

Anyway...it works for me.  :)

  

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:52 pm 
 

Radovarl wrote:
I'm down to one bookshelf (about 4 1/2 feet wide) of the "essentials", mostly AD&D 1st edition and D&D 3.5/d20........ but mostly I'm happy to forget everything that was published from 1989 - 2003.


Thats what I'm currently shooting for, though I have included any TSR game pre 1980.


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Post Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:29 pm 
 

SH60B wrote:Thats what I'm currently shooting for, though I have included any TSR game pre 1980.


I started to collect stuff from before 1980, picked up an OCE and all of the supplements, etc.  I found that I never so much as opened them, I guess because I started playing in 1980.  They just didn't resonate with me at all.

So now my collection rules are: 1) Must fit on the bookshelf, 2) Must be something I actually owned and/or played at the time (i.e., published 1980 - 1988, and also 2003+) and can remember in some detail, 3) Must cost less than $100.

Keeps me from going nutso cuckoo; I mean, what's to stop any of us (aside from the size of the bank account) from going completely off the deep end and purchasing everything TSR ever published?  And what would be the point?  Now that I'm down from 5 boxes to one shelf, every single title I glance at resonates on a number of levels.  There's no more ho-hum, "Oh, yeah, that's kinda cool, but why did I spend $145 on it?"

  
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