Quick answer
Catalogue a coin collection by photographing each piece, recording eight standard fields per entry (denomination, year, mintmark, grade, acquisition date, acquisition price, current value, provenance), and storing everything in one searchable system. Use MyCoinage for British coinage or a structured spreadsheet if you prefer DIY.
TL;DR
- Start with a flat table of fields, don't jump into an app until you know what to capture
- Photograph both sides of every coin before you record anything else
- Grade before you value: grade drives price
- Record provenance at the moment of purchase, never later
- Budget one evening per 50 coins for a first-pass catalogue
Table of contents
- Why catalogue at all
- Before you start: the eight fields
- Step 1: Photograph every coin
- Step 2: Identify each coin
- Step 3: Grade honestly
- Step 4: Value from realised prices
- Step 5: Log provenance
- Step 6: Pick a storage system
- Step 7: Build a maintenance habit
- Common questions
- FAQ
Why catalogue at all
Three reasons collectors catalogue: to know what they have, to prove what they have, and to enjoy what they have. The first matters when you're deciding what to buy next, duplicates are expensive mistakes. The second matters when something goes missing, when you die, or when you want to sell in fifteen years. The third is the quiet pleasure of a well-kept record: a cabinet of coins is beautiful, but a proper catalogue is satisfying in its own right.
Collectors who don't catalogue lose money. A 2024 survey by Coin News found that uncatalogued collections sold at auction averaged 18% below comparable catalogued lots, because buyers can't evaluate what they can't see documented.
Before you start: the eight fields
| Field | Example | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Denomination | Half sovereign | Base identity |
| Year | 1887 | Narrows variety |
| Mintmark / variety | Jubilee head, no mm | Splits rare from common |
| Grade | EF | Drives value 3-5x |
| Acquisition date | 2024-03-15 | Capital gains tracking |
| Acquisition price | £185 | Cost basis |
| Current value | £240 | Insurance figure |
| Provenance | Spink lot 234 | Authentication + resale |
Eight fields is the minimum. Add more as needed: weight, diameter, certification number, toning notes, reverse variety, die pairing. But start with eight. A catalogue with eight good fields beats one with twenty half-completed ones.
Step 1: Photograph every coin
Use natural light or a daylight LED lamp. Never a flash, it blows out highlights and hides detail. Shoot both obverse and reverse on a plain mid-grey background. A smartphone is fine; a macro lens is better. Crop tight but leave a small border.
File naming matters more than the camera. Name images denomination_year_mintmark_side.jpg, e.g. sovereign_1887_jubilee_obv.jpg. You'll thank yourself in three years when you want to find a specific photo.
Storage
Raw photos should live in cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox) in addition to whatever tracker stores them. Tracker databases sometimes compress images; you want the originals somewhere else.
Step 2: Identify each coin
Look up every coin before you log it. A "1933 penny" might be one of three things, and only one of them is worth five figures (see 1933 penny value). Use the MyCoinage catalogue or the Royal Mint historical records for British pieces.
Common identification traps
- Sovereigns: the head type (Victoria young / jubilee / old) matters as much as the year
- Pennies: dates like 1860 have dozens of die varieties
- Fifty pences: commemoratives look alike but mintages differ wildly, see 50p coin values UK
- Modern crowns: metal content (silver vs cupro-nickel) changes value 10x
If you're unsure, don't guess. The coin collecting glossary covers the terminology, and the what makes a coin rare guide explains why tiny variety differences matter.
Step 3: Grade honestly
Grade is the single biggest driver of value. A sovereign in Fine is worth bullion plus a small premium; the same coin in Uncirculated can be three times that. Use the Sheldon scale (1-70) or the UK descriptive scale (Poor through FDC). See how to grade a coin for the full crossover.
Grade yourself conservatively
Most first-time cataloguers over-grade by a half-grade. If you think it's aEF, call it VF-EF. If you think it's UNC, call it AU. The market will tell you you're wrong fast enough; it rarely tells you you're too harsh.
When to pay for third-party grading
Slab a coin (PCGS, NGC, CGS) when the grade genuinely matters to the price. A common George V penny doesn't need certification. A 1905 half-crown or a proof sovereign often does. Budget £25-£40 per coin for UK submissions via a broker.
Step 4: Value from realised prices
Never value a coin from asking prices. A coin listed at £500 that doesn't sell tells you only that nobody will pay £500 for it. Use realised auction data from Spink, Baldwin's, Noonans, or completed eBay sales.
MyCoinage's coin_prices database stores realised prices only, never active listings. Grade-level aggregates update hourly. If you're building your own spreadsheet, subscribe to the Spink auction catalogues and harvest hammer-plus-buyer's-premium figures manually.
The realised-price adjustment
Auction house prices include buyer's premium (typically 20-28%). When comparing to a dealer's retail price, remember the dealer marks up 20-40% above their trade cost. The same coin can look like three different prices depending on the channel.
Step 5: Log provenance
Provenance is the paper trail proving you own what you say you own. Every purchase generates at least a receipt, keep it. Auction invoices, dealer receipts, private-sale bills of sale. Scan them and attach the scan to the catalogue entry.
For pieces over £1,000, provenance affects resale value. A sovereign sold at Spink in 2012 and traceable through your records commands a premium over an identical sovereign with no history. See coin collection insurance UK for the provenance requirements insurers impose.
Step 6: Pick a storage system
| System | Best for | Downside |
|---|---|---|
| MyCoinage | UK collectors wanting live value | Subscription for Pro features |
| Numista | Global reference | No live pricing |
| Excel / Google Sheets | Full control | You build everything |
| CoinManage | Windows diehards | No mobile, no sync |
| Paper ledger | Small collections | No backups, no search |
Whichever you pick, commit to one. Split catalogues across two systems is how you end up with neither being current. Most collectors I've talked to migrated once from spreadsheet to app, stuck with the app, and never looked back.
Step 7: Build a maintenance habit
A catalogue is only useful if it's current. Set one calendar reminder: last Sunday of every month, 30 minutes, add new acquisitions and review valuations. That's it. Miss three months and the catalogue becomes a guilt trip rather than a tool.
The deaccession log
Every coin that leaves the collection, sold, gifted, stolen, gets a closing entry, not a deletion. Record sale date, sale price, buyer if known. Capital gains tax on collectibles in the UK kicks in above £6,000 per item; HMRC wants the paper trail.
Common questions
How long does it take to catalogue 200 coins?
About four to six hours if you're photographing, identifying and grading from scratch. Faster if the collection is already in trays with attributions written. Slower if you're inheriting an unlabelled collection and need to research each piece.
Should I catalogue bullion separately?
No, but tag them. A 1oz Britannia is still a coin. MyCoinage treats bullion as a type flag and values it from live metals spot rather than realised auction prices. Mixing bullion and numismatic in one catalogue gives you a true net worth figure.
Can I catalogue coins I don't own yet?
Yes, use a watchlist. MyCoinage's watchlist holds 10 coins on the free tier, unlimited on Pro. It's useful for tracking the target pieces that complete a set and getting price alerts when they come up at auction.
What about accidentally duplicate entries?
The import tool deduplicates by year + mintmark + grade. If you have two genuinely identical coins (common for bullion), enter them as quantity 2 rather than two separate entries. Saves valuation effort at scale.
FAQ
Q: Is there a British Standard for coin cataloguing?
A: No formal BS, but the Royal Numismatic Society's guidelines and Spink's Standard Catalogue format are the de facto references. Most trackers follow Spink's denomination nomenclature.
Q: Should I photograph slabbed coins?
A: Yes, both through the slab and the certificate label. The cert number goes in the provenance field.
Q: What if a coin has no mintmark?
A: Record "none" or "P" for London proof, "none" for London currency. Don't leave it blank, blank means "unknown", not "no mark".
Q: Do I need special software to catalogue?
A: No. A notebook works. Software makes search, valuation and export easier, but the discipline is what matters.
Q: Where do I start if I've inherited an uncatalogued collection?
A: Photograph everything before you do anything else. Then identify the obviously valuable pieces first (sovereigns, crowns, proofs). The rest can wait. Are old coins worth anything walks through the triage.