Categorizing & Inventorying Your Collection

[Rob Wright]

So I spent a good part of my weekend categorizing my collection. I've only done most of my modern decks. I've probably have another 100 vintage and assorted promo/advertising decks. So far listed 484 Decks(254 different).


19 1/2 bricks in back + a 6 brick & 10 brick(almost full) collector boxes + another box full of decks.

........and in the mail today



...........and a few emails of pending deliveries!

[Anthony]

I feel your pain Rob.........but isn't it fun 

[Don Boyer]

I feel your pain Rob.........but isn't it fun 

I'm a bit overdue to re-sort mine.  All 1,700+ decks...yeesh.

[Magasaki]

Ok I mentioned this a while ago and I have finally had time to do some work on inventorying.

My plan was fairly simple, set up a site that I could use as an inventory and then scan the artwork from the cards in and begin to form a sort of online 'museum' of my personal collection. You may remember me discussing the legalities of scanning images into the site in the middle of last year.

So the site is up and built at www.magasaki.com but is very much in beta stage. It only has part of the collection up so far and far less completely scanned decks. However, it's providing a great place to store information I find on certain decks and keep a record of things I learn. There is also a small blog on the site I'll be updating with information as things change and grow.

Please have a browse if you get time and be as critical as you want - I won't take offence! I know the 'look' of the site is a bit lame at the minute so I need to work on that. When browsing the deck collection you'll notice that you can click on some images which will take you onto a page with more information and scans of the artwork. If you have any suggestions on improvements then please throw them my way. This year I'm mainly going to be working on gathering information so it might actually become a useful resource for people one day.

Check out some examples
http://www.magasaki.com/#!correspondances/c12yo
http://www.magasaki.com/#!les-montgolfieres/c1grj
http://www.magasaki.com/#!aves/cvve

I'll keep the link in my sig from now on and let you guys know if there are any significant updates.

Thanks

Tom

[Crazy Gizmo]

I use Google Photos its fast free n theres a comprehensive sreach that will find similar decks without making any tags for your photos.
You can organize them down even farther by creating albums of certain brands names Etc.

[ecNate]

Since it's been a few years since PCDB was mentioned, I should mention for future reference and for the few that don't know about it:   Now called Portfolio52 since Alex Chin of Seasons Playing Cards took ownership/control, is my method to manage my inventory and also for many others.  With over 4,000 decks in the database, the 1,000+ members have a total of over 250,000 decks in their combined collections, it's certainly the most popular solution out there.

It includes deck scans and details for each deck, plus ways to categorize/view by artist, brand, manufacturer, publisher, etc.  One of the best features is the trade/wish lists and a match process to help you find decks you want.  Alex is also in the process of yet another major new version and revamp of the system which hopefully will be available in the coming months, fixing some lingering issues and a ton of new improvements.

http://www.portfolio52.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Portfolio52

[akicer]

I usually try to categorize my deck using both spreadsheet and labels on boxes I store the decks. I usually write what I have on the box... but it's getting harder and harder if I keep adding and removing decks form the boxes.

I must admit it's super hard when number of decks start to grow too fast...

[pokereaq]

I use a spreadsheet.  I include the brand, a Brief Description of the Deck, the year made if I know it, opened or unopened, and a couple other columns.  It is over 300 pages long, very interesting to look at.  At the bottom of the spreadsheet it keeps three totals for me:  Total Number of Decks, Total Number of Opened Decks, & Total Number of Unopened Decks.  I also save the list on two flash sticks just incase something happens...   

[Kruser]

As usual, tons of cool ideas on this thread!

As my collection has expanded, I too have been wondering how best to catalogue my collection! 

To this end, I made an investment: a digital document scanner! ... As it turns out, this was a great idea: now, I make digital scans of my cards and add any extra info to the title or description.

I found this to be a great solution to the categorizing issue - a picture can replace a lot of descriptors!

Also, once I have digital versions of my cards, I can 'cast' them to my 60-inch TV via Bluetooth as a slideshow - a great way to walk newbies through my collection without having to break out every single card or deck: if people are super-interested, I'll bring out the actual cards for closer examination.

BTW, the scanner I bought was an Epson - less than $100 on Amazon. Here's the link to the Canadian listing (probably cheaper in the US!)

 https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00SSXQ7Q2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Happy collecting!

Kruser

[Eddie Hughlett]

Great idea Kruser!  Thanks for sharing.

-eh

[Soochinator]

I built an excel spreadsheet that I use for now. I joined Portfolio52, but I find it too basic for any productive use. Yeah, you can see what you have an how many at a glance, but it doesn't specify open vs sealed, cost, value, date acquired, etc. Too many things it doesn't have to list. I think it's a cool idea and I hope it continues to succeed, but I want more out my collection database/inventory. I want to be able to produce reports based on defined entries as I see fit. That being said, I'm now in the process of learning Access, so I can have a database that satisfies my need for lots of information.

As far as photos go, I don't bother taking my own photos. I download the KS photos or whatever each company provides online and have them all backed up and categorized in Google Drive. I considered taking my own photos, but there are decks that I'm not willing to open, so there would always be some missing.

[Kevin Dixler]

I have another hobby that suddenly took off.  I think that most of us want to share what we have and post what we can trade.  www.whiskybase.com is an excellent format for whisky collectors.  I think that the template can be modified.  Perhaps, the owners will share the sourcecode to those of us with obscure but interesting hobbies.  I am willing to assist to the extent possible in creating a user friendly database to share with the public to encourage playing card collecting.