Poll Question: How do you like to organize your collection? Era, country, or another method?

By type.

Name and address withheld

The country then the year.

Name and address withheld

By country.

Name and address withheld

I organize my collection in Dansco albums and coin tubes. I have about 100 Dansco albums as I collect American coins, both old and new. My extra coins I keep in coin tubes. I, of course, have a list of all of my coins, so a particular coin, when needed, is easy to find. I avoid using cardboard 2x2s, as they are not durable, and they cannot be seen at a glance.

Dave Burdis, Charleroi, Pa.

I organize my collection country-wise. I have coins from more than 300 countries, past and present. They are all placed in different boxes.

I have a soft copy of my entire collection, with details like nominal value, year of minting, the complete range of years for which that particular type of coin was minted, metal used, description of all three sides (inc. edge) like any animal, plant, person or any historical event depicted on it, and condition of the coin. In this way, it is very easy to search the whole collection.

Anver Aziz, New Delhi, India

I really enjoy collecting according to themes, and I have many. I collect for the pleasure of collecting, not for the purpose of completing a collection.

Within each of my collections, I define very clearly what is included and what is not. For example, I have a wildlife coin collection that includes only circulation strikes. No fancy metals. When I go to big shows, I do have a list of what I have, not what I need. No stress.

François Rufiange, Quebec City, Canada

I like to organize by theme. Obsolete currency is in the set, and Confederate Currency is in a separate system. Coins are organized by sets, i.e., mint, proof, commemorative, and special mint sets. Then, the loose coins in flips by denomination.

Name and Address withheld

My own personal collection has taken several shapes over the past 15 years or so. I began with the denomination, not even the mint mark, as I was a baby. As the collection/myself grew and became a full-fledged heavyweight to carry, I began organizing in different ways, eventually separating each denomination into separate living quarters. Of course, mint marks had to be considered, so more space was needed.

Eventually, full denomination segregation was implemented for a time. This is still the way that I organize it, however, with several adjustments.

Mainly provenance and denomination, along with mint mark, but only to exhibit the differences in said mint marks and differences in mint practices during the time in which I am studying at the moment, whether large, tiny, copper, gold, silver, platinum, experimental alloys, etc.

W.E. Cross, New Orleans, La.

I have my collection organized in a few ways. My more expensive coins, like gold coins, are in a bank’s safety deposit box; the rest are lower-priced coins and secondary collections like Indian head cents. Mercs, buffalo nickels, peace dollars, walkers, etc., which are in lower grades than the primary collections in XF or better in the vault.

I do mainly collect by series, always trying to upgrade where possible. Also, I have been trying to buy nice cameo proofs in the seated series and barber series, which are in the vault.

Plus, I utilize Heritage’s website to list all my coins, so it’s available for me to see my collection online, as well as the wholesale value of each coin.

Roy Herbst, Address withheld

Country: silver vs. gold vs. other, then by face value, then by year minted.

Name and Address withheld

First off, I organize my collection using a spreadsheet. Second, I organize by folder, album, or binder. Third, I organize by the focus of each assemblage. That third item deserves a little more discussion.

One assemblage I have is focused on my birth year. I have a binder that contains coins made in my birth year. This is tricky for countries whose year does not start on Jan. 1, but I try to then choose their year that contains my actual birthday. Another assemblage I have focuses on liberty caps (Phrygian caps, bonnet rouge), which is also housed in its own 3-ring binder. Finally, another binder contains coins of interest to my wife. This includes horse coins, dog coins, and her birth year.

Of course, I have many folders/albums that are "standard," containing date/mintmark openings for a particular series. Filling in these folders can be fun, but almost always, you get to a point where there are a few holes left that you can never afford to fill. This is frustrating, which is why I have had more fun designing my own assemblages, which are complete when I decide they are!

David Eagle, Address withheld

I collect banknotes. Organization is by country, in alphabetical order. That is what makes the most sense.

Robert Gajda, Facebook

Era and world-alphabetically!

Melissa Fry Roe Schlafli