Excel Spreadsheet for each part of my collection. (eg OD&D/BECMI/TSR Magazines/Other Magazines/Traveller/Other crap)

I sat and did it a few weeks ago and it took me a couple of nights, and a week or so tweaking it.

My collection stands at (from memory as I haven't got the stuff to hand) just under 500 items so i dread to think what serious collectors would have to go through to get organised.

My spreadsheet is, potentially, quite extensive with columns for all sorts of stuff (purchase date/price,condition,estimated value etc etc) - however I have only filled in the condition in for hings like OD&D and 1E rule books.
I guess I could fill in all of these blanks later but it's not really likely if I'm honest.

I'm pleased I did it though - It was a lot of work for a computer moron like myself, with no experience of spreadsheets whatsoever. If I wanted to I guess I could merge all the docs,spread them out, add pictures,flip them over, colour them purple .....whatever took my fancy.

One thing to note that my 'collection' is only the stuff I would never part with - there's so much oher stuff knocking around - ready to resell, not sorted yet,not sure if I want to collect, might be interesting, just want to read such-and-such article - the list goes on.

this means that while my 'collection' is neatly boxed and sorted and safely stashed away, all the rest of the stuff is just about everywhere!! This is a particular nightmare with the reselling when I come to find somrthing thats been BINed from my ebay shop. I start in the cupboard, then go to the cupboard in the storage area just off the kitchen, then into the loft, then the boot of the car, under the bed,and finally in my locker at work. Great system except it's not quite that limited - I was about to refund a chaps money a while ago when I had a flash of insoiration and remember wher I had put his WRG book - under the seat cushions of the sofa  .

I'd love to have a room like IO(or a few others here) but without a lottery win it's not going to happen - in the meantime I'm content that a lot of gaming stuff passes through my hands

Safe storage is great and all, and I own a few white magazine boxes for the purpose.  However, I've found recently that I want to be able to look at my stuff frequently/easily, especially cover art.  What do people use to display modules and such?  

Right now I've got a clear plastic three-tiered office "inbox/outbox" dealie on top of my book case, showcasing some of my favorites.  With the light low (I keep it fairly dim, to avoid light damage) from more than a couple feet away it looks like the modules are floating in midair.  

Primitive, I know, which is why I ask..  There must be a better way.

i'm a spreadsheet bloke as well.

my main vice is prog rock so i use the same system for d&d&D (that is d&d and derivatives) as I do for LPs

different worksheets for OD&D rule books & supplements, AD&D modules, chaosium, merp, rolemaster, arduin, bard games, dimension six, companions, columbia, judges guild, palladium, ad&d rule books, midkemia, runequest, you get the drift

since i read all the modules & try to play as well (rip that SW off!!) backing boards & covers kept in magazine archive folders in my study are the order of the day

This thread reminds me of......

Wanna run wit my crew, hah?
Rule cyberspace and crunch numbers like I do?
They call me the king of the spreadsheets
Got 'em printed out on my bedsheets

Lyrics copyright Weird Al.

I think this is an interesting question and have appreciated most of the responses.  I am a little surprised that more of you don't have an up-to-date catalog of your holdings.  The perspecive I look at this is from the insurance and replacement side.  My insurance company requires a list and sometimes photographs of 'collectables' in the case of catastrophe that requires replacement.  Without lists and photographs, it is not impossible to secure a fair settlement but the burden of proof regarding what you have is much more imposing without them.

I live in no glass house, mind you.  My wife and I update our list of belongings, including collectables as best we can each year around tax time.  We burn a CD with this information along with digital photographs that we have taken and then put it into the flame-proof safe for safe keeping.  We always forget to catalog things and it is a bitch of a job that neither of us look forward to.  One year we found that the replacement value of our belongings grew beyond our coverage and had to call our agent to bump our coverage up a bit.

We are more motivated this year than ever, though, because a huge wind storm blew through our area this last year and many roof were removed with nearly total distruction inside these structures.  We were lucky and only sustained roof damage.

Please note this disclaimer:
Please note I do not represent any insurance company, have relatives or know someone that does.  In truth I struggle with the concept but accept it as a sad fact of life.

Andy

Yes I am.  I know there are a few of us Washingtonians here at Acaeum.

Boreas wrote:I think this is an interesting question and have appreciated most of the responses.  I am a little surprised that more of you don't have an up-to-date catalog of your holdings.  The perspecive I look at this is from the insurance and replacement side.  My insurance company requires a list and sometimes photographs of 'collectables' in the case of catastrophe that requires replacement.  Without lists and photographs, it is not impossible to secure a fair settlement but the burden of proof regarding what you have is much more imposing without them.

I live in no glass house, mind you.  My wife and I update our list of belongings, including collectables as best we can each year around tax time.  We burn a CD with this information along with digital photographs that we have taken and then put it into the flame-proof safe for safe keeping.  We always forget to catalog things and it is a bitch of a job that neither of us look forward to.  One year we found that the replacement value of our belongings grew beyond our coverage and had to call our agent to bump our coverage up a bit.

We are more motivated this year than ever, though, because a huge wind storm blew through our area this last year and many roof were removed with nearly total distruction inside these structures.  We were lucky and only sustained roof damage.

Please note this disclaimer:
Please note I do not represent any insurance company, have relatives or know someone that does.  In truth I struggle with the concept but accept it as a sad fact of life.

Andy

I have had more than one insurance company flat out tell me they wouldn't insure my more valuable D&D items, end of story. Their line was basically they dont' recognize those items as collectibles.  These are major insurance companies, btw.  They will however insure items such as stamp, rare books, coins, comic collections, IF a certified adjuster is able to go through and grade the items independently. You wouldn't believe the cost of that!  I declined for my comics except for the 3-4 most valuable.
  My youngest brother has worked in the insurance game for over a decade.  He has confided to me that NO MATTER WHAT THE COMPANY TELLS ME, that he doubts they would pay a claim on stuff like D&D valuables.  They would just flat out reject something like a white box set being worth say $150.  It would be incumbent on me to present to them why it's worth that much, which I could probably do given enough time and effort, for example catalouging auction sales. He has told me even a respected site like the Aceaum would very likely be rejected by the insurance agents as proof of worth.
 All this having been said, it really depends on what company you use, and what kind of person you can get to talk to if catastrophic damage occurs. I have heard of people getting paid off immediately for collectibles ruined in a storm, and I have heard of companys initially refusing to pay a penny, then offering an insulting sum as a counter offer (Ok, we'll give you 5 cents each for all the Silver Age comics you had in the warehouse that burned down).  
   Remember, after Katrina, State Farm was successfully sued because of the sleeziness of their tactics, including telling those who had wind damage coverage that flooding did most of the damage to their houses, while teling those with flood insurance that the culprit was wind damage (they just lost millions in a successful suit against them by the stat of Mississippi for such skuzz ball tactics).  I can see your friendly neighborhood insurance agent paying you off happily for your lost D&D stuff and handing you a check for 10 grand, I can also see him laughing his ass off at your misfortune and refusing to ante up because there is no "established" value for your items.
    If I can in the next few days I'll try to get my little brother to write up an insider's view of this and post it here....he's pretty savvy and can probably give some good tips, and maybe some ideas for insuring this stuff that will stand scrutiny. In my case, he's told me to maintain better records, but mostly just to bump my existing coverage to the highest level I can WITHOUT declaring my collectibles...in most cases, raising your limit from 40 grand to say 60 grand will cover all that stuff anyway.  Besides, who needs furniture?  If something catastrophic occurs I'll definitely replace my modules first....

Mike B.

Hi Paul,

I keep all mine on an Excel spreadsheet, so would be interested in comparing the one you've mentioned with what I have already. Mine's very basic with the items just listed down and plugged into a new line when I get them.

Brendon

I'd love to learn how to use Access, especially as it has come up in my last two job interviews. It seems like a program with a steep initial learning curve, though, whereas Excel is more of a "jump right in" program. That could be just me, though ... but I do find it interesting that probably 75 percent of people in my peer group can use Excel, but only 10 or 15 percent can use Access.

Any advice or resources you'd recommend? Or should I pretend it's no worse than Excel and just jump right in?