How do you categorize store your coins?

How do you arrange your coins in your folders or storage? Do you separate by years, type or how do you do it?

I'm having trouble deciding on how I should arrange my coins directly in my folders

I decided awhile back to arrange coins in folders in the exact sequence that is displayed when I select My coins on Numista.  Worked very well until Numista started moving issuers around.

This is an interesting question.
 

First, we will naturally divide our coins by continent.

Then within a continent, for example for Africa, what is the point of putting Tunisia right after Tanzania? Just an alphabetic order?
I chose to separate the major geopolitical entities, because it is not only a question of geography but of a common evolution of different countries within more or less the same political influence. For Africa, I therefore split in  North Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, Austral Africa and finally South Africa and its nested countries.
 

The detailed analysis of the political situationwhen certain coins were issued may sometimes call into question the classification of Numista.
For example, you are the lucky owner of the Likuta from 1967 which Numista classifies under Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) while Léopoldville was renamed to Kinshasa on 1966. Is that a detail you might say? No. For the classification of the coins of the Democratic Republic of Congo, you will scratch your head for a while :)

For Oceania the classification will be from West to East depending on the time zones. You can choose your subsets as you wish provided that this classification makes sense to you.

I generally follow the classification by ruler of Numista.

In fact what is the point of putting all your 1 Cents of Canada one after the other from Victoria to Charles III, then 5 cents …,  it’s boring and the change of rulers will enhance the display of your collection.

But sometimes I split the Numista categories. For example for France at the beginning of the twentieth century, Numista simply suggests the Third Republic (1870-1940). That’s a long 70 years including the First World War in the middle and the abandonment of the “strong Franc”.
 

There are other special cases such as the Spanish Netherlands, certain counties of the HRE that Numista includes in the famous “ Numista Belgian States® ”. But it' still the exception.

Split by ruler and by currency !

For sure, You wouldn't mix the Yugoslavian Convertible Dinar, Reformed dinar, October Dinar and January Dinar 🙃

By need 😄 Broadly try to go by geographic or cultural links (eg. have all British territories in Europe together), but sometimes my hand is forced by space (ask my Yugoslavia-USSR-Croatia album). 

When I have the capacity, within each currency I often split different to numista. For example, if there are clear series where all the designs change at the same time, I might group each series together rather than keep all variations of the same denominations together as numista does. 

CatbedCoins

… if there are clear series where all the designs change at the same time, I might group each series together rather than keep all variations of the same denominations together as numista does. 

Exact, for example, you might emphasize the variation of the numbers of republics inside USSR

If I had more Soviet coins, yes!

I order my coins alphabetically by country/issuer and I store them in flips and store the flips in a binder

My collection is still small so I just put all the silver coins in a little wooden box and the rest I leave in old lolly bags, have one for American coins, one for New Zealand, one for British and another for the rest 

 Be careful 33doubleeagle that is how i started. Right now i have over 120 notebooks. 

I remember I posted my solution in an earlier thread with a similar question:

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic66724.html#p541871

I now have 11 Lindner Karat albums (still not enough for my complete collection) and store the coins by region/country/series like this:

The legend page is populated kind of automatically from the Excel overview of my collection.

When I started collecting after I got the coins from my grandpa I just sorted them by country and put them LDPE bags.

A bit later I built and/or repurposed some boxes for storage for most of my world coins (only by type) in coin flips and sorted the countries alphabetically (in these pictures it was probably still sorted by how they fit best in the compartments).

For my silver coins I had a little album, now I just use it for my doubles

Now I sort them alphabetical but divide them in continent → modern country location → chronologically predecessor/successor country (mostly like on Wikipedia) → chronological - denomination small to large (no gaps for future acquisitions, only at the end of a page or country).

Euro coins get put in an album as sets chronological how I go them but at some point alphabetical.

For Japan, which I collect by year, I have a list with all coins that I probably would be able to some day get a hold of. So there are gaps and I put the pages in an album. Chronological by type, denomination from small to large.

Idolenz

…
Now I sort them alphabetical but divide them in continent → modern country location → chronologically predecessor/successor country …

There is a contradiction between an alphabetical and a chronological sorting.

For example, unlike the purely alphabetical classification, the historical classification would give for Southern Africa :

Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia & Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and then Malawi.

Idolenz

…

Euro coins get put in an album as sets chronological how I go them but at some point alphabetical.

…

I separate Euros from previous currencies, except for microstates. On reflection, I find it amusing these different adaptations, depending on the mood of the moment, of the various rules that we set for ourselves.

I lost parts of the sentence while editing multiple times. I have a list with all modern countries that is sorted A-Z. These are split into continents then extinct countries on similar location and former versions are sorted chronological under those modern ones (similar to how Numista does it now). If I had let's say a fast amount of Roman coins I wouldn't put them under Italy, they would be put in there own Album with their own sub categorisation of provinces etc. but I don't own many.

And yes for some more complicated areas there will have to be compromises but I don't own many African coins to begin with so I haven't had the problem yet.

Frenchlover

I separate Euros from previous currencies, except for microstates. On reflection, I find it amusing these different adaptations, depending on the mood of the moment, of the various rules that we set for ourselves.

That's how it should be, they are our collections and some times large parts of the hobby is just categorisation and putting things some times here sometimes there. Like other people like to rearrange their decoration.

I have three binders: one for coins, one for exonumia, and one for banknotes/paper exonumia. I also have two small boxes, one for coins/exonumia with sizes over 38mm, and another for exonumia that are not metallic (wooden nickels, poker chips, plastic tokens).  

My collection is small so I didn't have much trouble in storing it yet, but I try separate countries by:

1. continent

2. then subcontinent/region (South America, Central America, Caribbean, Central Asia, East Asia etc.)

3. then historical proximity (grouping Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, or Italy, San Marino, Vatican and Venice)

4. then alphabetical order

I store coins coin holders and then in MDF boxes designed for storing coin holders.

So far I had no problems to catalogue all coins this way, but as I said at the beginning, my collection is small (about 350 coins + 50 coin-like exonumia)

I have not many banknotes and paper exonumia so I store then in a binder

mrcsp

My collection is small so I didn't have much trouble in storing it yet, but I try separate countries by:

1. continent

2. then subcontinent/region (South America, Central America, Caribbean, Central Asia, East Asia etc.)

3. then historical proximity (grouping Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, or Italy, San Marino, Vatican and Venice)

4. then alphabetical order

 

I store coins coin holders and then in MDF boxes designed for storing coin holders.

 

So far I had no problems to catalogue all coins this way, but as I said at the beginning, my collection is small (about 350 coins + 50 coin-like exonumia)

 

I have not many banknotes and paper exonumia so I store then in a binder

This is exactly what I do  but I don’t store my exonumia anywhere just in piles on my desk 

Coins

I have two folders, one for UK mainland & one for Crown Dependencies & the British Overseas Territories.

The folder has the sheets for holding 20 coins in lighthouse card flips.

The CD & BOT is organised the by the date they became part of the UK “family”, oldest at the front.

For both folders, the order then becomes by most recent Monarch, lowest to highest value, oldest to most recent issue date.

The only exception is for pre-decimal & decimal, with decimal taking priority.

So at the front is Charles III (and once they're released…), the coins will be ordered into denomination sheets with 1p being the first sheet, then 2p and so on. On the individual sheet, the oldest coin will take the first spot on the sheet.

Once we get through Charles, you'll find Elizabeth II (Decimal) with sheets organised in the same way. Then Elizabeth II (Pre-decimal), George VI etc, back until we reach Anne (in theory anyway, I don't have anything that old).

Banknotes

Only really have UK mainland notes, not enough from CD/BOT to warrant a new folder.

They're organised with the UK official notes (Treasury notes/Bank of England) first, then the extant issuing banks for Scotland, then extant issuing banks for Northern Ireland. The banks are in order of their formation, oldest first. Then come the extinct banks in the order of Scotland, England, Wales, NI. This is the order the home nations came into existence. Within each nation, the banks are still organised by their formation date.

The notes themselves are organised by series oldest first, and within the series, lowest value first. Any commemorative issues are placed behind the series issues simply in the order they were released.

So opening the folder would have Treasury notes (if I had any…) then Series B, C etc for Bank of England (as the UK bank). Then comes all the series for the Bank of Scotland as it is the oldest extant issuing bank of Scotland, then Royal Bank of Scotland (2nd oldest extant in Scotland) and so on until we reach the most recently formed but extinct bank in Northern Ireland. (In theory anyway, I don't have any of those notes).

======

All sounds terribly complicated when I type it out. I promise it's much nicer & easier to follow when the folders are in front of you! 😛

I use a fairly simple country>value>date system of coins in flips in binders. However, given my past work in an archive, I give each coin a unique accession number. An example for a Nepalese 1 paisa from 1971 that is sitting in front of me currently would be KM748-7101. A second one would be KM748-7102. The info before the dash will always be the Krause or Yeoman number, whereas the numbers after the dash are the last two digits of the year and the order in which I added accession numbers. This way, if I ever wanted to make a private comment about a specific coin, I would know exactly which 1971 Nepalese 1 paisa I was referring to, for example.

braxtonianman

I use a fairly simple country>value>date system of coins in flips in binders. However, given my past work in an archive, I give each coin a unique accession number. An example for a Nepalese 1 paisa from 1971 that is sitting in front of me currently would be KM748-7101. A second one would be KM748-7102. The info before the dash will always be the Krause or Yeoman number, whereas the numbers after the dash are the last two digits of the year and the order in which I added accession numbers. This way, if I ever wanted to make a private comment about a specific coin, I would know exactly which 1971 Nepalese 1 paisa I was referring to, for example.

How does that work for newer coins that do not have a KM# or Y#? Wouldn’t those mess up your system?

Country→ Currency → Year → Denomonation

So e.g. South African coons are all together, and first are the pennies and shillings from oldest to youngest in each denomination, then come cents and rand from oldest to youngest. Much like here on Numista.

For me it is Country (Or issuer) → year → currency → value

Then I store them like this:

In multiple layer. It is 4 boxes deep. Each box is tracket on a spreadsheet to easy reach what I need. Sometimes I add a box in the middle to arrange new coins.

The countries/issuer are sorted alphabetically in Italian. Except Italy that is firs because I have so many italian coins…

Each box is sorted this way:

Order by year, then currency, then value.

I use capsule for each coin, even if the capsule is worth more then the coin. Example:

For banknotes I use albums, on a shelf, but it is a similar concept. Example:

I can ease reach every single coin. I also try to improve qualiy of collection. With capsula I can easy replace each coin.

Regards,

Lucazeo.

Lucazeo

For me it is Country (Or issuer) → year → currency → value

 

Then I store them like this:

In multiple layer. It is 4 boxes deep. Each box is tracket on a spreadsheet to easy reach what I need. Sometimes I add a box in the middle to arrange new coins.

The countries/issuer are sorted alphabetically in Italian. Except Italy that is firs because I have so many italian coins…

 

Each box is sorted this way:

 

 

Order by year, then currency, then value.

I use capsule for each coin, even if the capsule is worth more then the coin. Example:

 

For banknotes I use albums, on a shelf, but it is a similar concept. Example:

 

 

I can ease reach every single coin. I also try to improve qualiy of collection. With capsula I can easy replace each coin.

Regards,

 

Lucazeo.

Where do you get those capsules?

gunnar.mar

Where do you get those capsules?

From Amazon.

Like these for most coins:

https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B0B3RG8RJF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But there are a lot similar, so I get the more convenient.

Also I have some of them for bigger coins, like for example Morgan Dollars and so on..

Many years ago I had three albums with coins in them plus a few that were in original boxes. On day, I realised that I was buying coins I already had, so, a complete reorganization was required.

So, I took every coin out of the albums and put them on my dining room table.

I then organized them by continent and from there, by country.

Now I had to organize in some form of order. This was done by going around the world. So countries 1, 2, 3 & 4, are Jersey, Guernsey, Ireland and Isle of Man, then continued through Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and lastly Australasia. Australia was number 77 and last on my list was New Zealand, number 78. 

I have added new countries as I obtained them and my last country is number 315

There was an interesting related thread in 2017: https://en.numista.com/forum/topic56990.html

I think now that the hardest part is not the categorization itself, but a system for future expansion. New coins are issued every year, so (unless they are arranged primarily by date) you have to insert them somewhere.

33doubleeagle

I order my coins alphabetically by country/issuer and I store them in flips and store the flips in a binder

That is how all my better collections are arranged, except mine are in mylar flips - but 20 flip pages are what I have.

This is my country collections and date runs for Predecimal British, NZ and Australian coins and the Canadian and American coins as well.

I plan my books, so I leave pre arranged gaps for coins I don't have yet, so each new date of coin is a mere slide in rather than album rearrangement.

Any proof set, unc set, coin in a case etc, stays in that case unless corroded and kept in shoe boxes. I also keep a tin with bulk silver coins for stacking and a separate box for silver sets, bullion silver rounds and interesting silver period.

Common world change collections are in country bags in tins (All silver or rare/ord world coins are in flips and albums).

Finally the gold coins are all kept in my safe, in flips or their boxes of issue.

I keep an excel list of all my better coins and use this for insurance records, I also have the list of my collection through Numista.

Finally all my better banknotes (NZ and Pacific Islands mostly are in a binder with 2 or 3 pocket Lighthouse vario pages). Less junk notes are stacked flat in a box.

Albums I have now

All binders with 20 coin Pages of coins in Mylar “Saflips”, unless described

1. NZ Predecimal coins, Proof set loose coins, Tradesmen Tokens - Medals and Scrip

2. Australia Predecimal, Halfpennies to Crowns and Fiji predecimal

3. UK Bronze and copper coins from fractional farthings to pennies and cartwheel tuppence.

4. UK Small silver, Maundy oddments to Shillings

5. UK Large silver, Florins, Halfcrowns and larger silver coins - also Ireland in back

6. Canada - Base metal and common at front, better coins such as large cents, rare pre 1936 cents, pre 1936 nickels and all silver in flips up to silver dollars.

7. South Africa, all Boer, Union and silver Republic coins, then base junk in cheap pages at back

8. World coins - 15 pages including world and Europe silver, Palestine, Indian Raj coins (Rupees etc) and German bimetallic ring coins.

9. USA - Pre 1909 cents, pre 1938 Nickels and all 90% silver coins - Dimes, Quarters, Halves, Dollars (Morgan, Peace).

Basic cheap albums with rigid plastic pages for coins

1. UK, NZ, Australia and USA Modern base coins (Post 1965 and Pennies

2. World grot - all sorts.

3. Victoria Stamp Traders, cheap push in album - Australia $2 coins

Push in Cardboard albums

7 x Album, NZ predecimal coins - B set (Duplicates)

6 x Album, NZ Decimal coins 1967 - 2005

3 x Album - Childrens plastic push in albums for Australian 20c, 50c and $1 coins.

I also do my own cards and print these up and put them in the second pocket of a flip.

Last week, I got up and noticed my back gate had been opened overnight and I had no idea how.

Turned out it was gardeners and they had left it wide open, my bike was right there and could have been stolen!. This is $5000 worth of electric bike. The back door was lock, but still a rock through glass could open it.

Needless to say the gold coins stored in my home safe, now have a new home. A commercial vault in the city. This is a place that has safety deposit boxes which are in an old vault. You need to have your face read to get inside and the staff have to open the box with you (Holding keys) and you get to go into a room to examine your goodies.

Its not cheap ($320 a year, plus key deposit), but its peace of mind, underground, insured against fire, theft, earthquake and force majeure.

At the moment all of my gold (About $75k worth), my 1911 Proof set and a couple of other knick knacks are down there.

Not a bad idea for anyone hoarding gold or any really valuable coins in their homes. As the world gets more unstable and crime increases, its not wise to make ourselves targets.