owners of out of control collections....

[The Less Blob]

I had posted a query about databases earlier, but the whole process scares me because I have a job and this could take years...

 

Who here with large collections (more than 10,000 comics let's say) keeps an index? Do you keep them all in order?

 

Just curious where I stand on the disorganization spectrum.

[DKB]

42ish long box collection. Just organized by title and publisher/genre. No database. I'd consider that too much of hassle to maintain every week when I get new stuff.

[skybolt]

I've created a nice spreadsheet for my 350+ CGC collection (11 long boxes). I've also created a scanned image gallery of all these books on Excell.

 

I have also graded, bagged and boarded the rest of my 4,000+ raw book collection in alphabetical and numerical order, but have only created a spreadsheet for books that value at $5-$10 or more. I'm really not going to spend a lot of time itemizing titels like Web of Spider-Man or X-Force, unless they're key, HG issues.

[Mr. Zipper]

I have about 7,000 comics and I've been using ComicBase for several years. They are all in the program, so all I have to do now is add new issues after they are read.

 

It took me about 2 years of on and off dedication to get all the books entered. (Comic Base allows for rapid entry, but I insisted on going through every single book and grading carefully... that's why it took so long.)

[cavecarson]

I have about 35,000-40,000 150 long boxes and a bunch of shorts.

No organization at all!

I have no idea what I own anymore.

I can pull out a box at random and go through it and it's like Christmas...I discover I own things that I had forgotten I had purchased.

I am of course ashamed to admit to chaotic collection.

[DKB]

I have about 35,000-40,000 150 long boxes and a bunch of shorts.

No organization at all!

I have no idea what I own anymore.

I can pull out a box at random and go through it and it's like Christmas...I discover I own things that I had forgotten I had purchased.

I am of course ashamed to admit to chaotic collection.

 

Sell sell sell!

 

I've run out of room for my stuff. Parents are leaving the area so I won't be able to use their basement anymore for storage, and my apartment can only hold so much, and I can't quite afford a cheap house in this area cause a cheap house around DC is $450,000, so sell I must!

[Mr. Zipper]

can't quite afford a cheap house in this area cause a cheap house around DC is $450,000, so sell I must!

 

Do what I did when housing prices were too much -- move.

 

My fiancee and I -- who both have above average paying jobs -- decided we didn't want to pay $500,000 for a cheesy Cape Cod house on Long Island. A bad value for our money, plus we'd be slaves to the mortgage.

 

So, we bought a beautiful 2,400 sq ft 4BR/4Bath house with a big yard in upstate NY for less than half the price of what a tiny Cape Cod with no yard would have cost us on Long Island. (Plus now, I have a huge room with industrial shelving solely for my "precious." )

 

The salaries in upstate are about 20% less than the metro NY area, but housing is about 65% less. You do the math.

[DKB]

I moved around a ton when I was a kid, at least once every 2 years, and I really dig Northern VA. Outer burbs are a great place to raise kids, whenever those happen, and once hockey starts up again, it'll be real hard to take my season tickets away from me. =)

[The Brain]

I had posted a query about databases earlier, but the whole process scares me because I have a job and this could take years...

 

Who here with large collections (more than 10,000 comics let's say) keeps an index? Do you keep them all in order?

 

Just curious where I stand on the disorganization spectrum.

 

Blob check here as it is very easy to use www.comicbase.com Tel: 408/266-6883 Human Computing 4509 Thistle Dr.

 

San Jose, CA. 95136

[Zombie-migration]

35 long boxes. All catagorized in EXCEL spreadsheet. Easiest method I've found.

[chromium]

Same here, a little under 9000 comics, all categorized in Excel, graded and valued...

Every time new books come in, in the spreadsheet they go....I force myself not to buy new books/back issues before the previous batch has been categorized.

[BassGMan]

42ish long box collection. Just organized by title and publisher/genre. No database. I'd consider that too much of hassle to maintain every week when I get new stuff.

 

That's pretty much my same story. All books organized by title, issue #, and publisher in long boxes. Works for me and does not take up too much time. I may not have a spreadsheet that I can look at for quick reference, but I have no need for one anyway. It's kind of fun not knowing exactly what issues I have, although I of course do have a general idea. If I was seeking out every issue of a large run, I'd certainly need to keep track of a want list.

 

It's interesting that even among us very serious collectors, we have everything from what I consider to be slobs to very anal-retentive collecting methods. None are any better or worse than the other, just differences.

[skybolt]

42ish long box collection. Just organized by title and publisher/genre. No database. I'd consider that too much of hassle to maintain every week when I get new stuff.

 

That's pretty much my same story. All books organized by title, issue #, and publisher in long boxes. Works for me and does not take up too much time. I may not have a spreadsheet that I can look at for quick reference, but I have no need for one anyway. It's kind of fun not knowing exactly what issues I have, although I of course do have a general idea. If I was seeking out every issue of a large run, I'd certainly need to keep track of a want list.

 

It's interesting that even among us very serious collectors, we have everything from what I consider to be slobs to very anal-retentive collecting methods. None are any better or worse than the other, just differences.

 

I'm trying to find a young lacky (a nephew or something), and convince him that it's a good idea to learn about comic book collecting and Excel spreadsheets by entering in all that data. Don't worry, I'll give him my "Defiant" collection as a reward.

[tilleycs]

I update my want list with each new trade/purchase. I don't keep track of what I have, I keep track of what I still don't have yet!

[shrunkenhead]

I started putting together a database of my slabs (actually at goldust's prompting) and was somewhat shocked to find that I had over 100 of these giant coasters layin' around! As for the raw books, I'm in the slob category...even though the books are meticulously cared for, I've got no idea as to what's in what box, with the exception of the real primo stuff which I mostly have separated. It kills me because at one point they were almost all alphabetized, but too many years have gone by and I've let myself go....my comics need Richard Simmons to deal-a-meal or something.

[The Less Blob]

"I can pull out a box at random and go through it and it's like Christmas...I discover I own things that I had forgotten I had purchased."

 

Actually, I think that's fun too. Especially stuff shoved in the back of or the top of a closet I haven't seen for years.

 

I admit I probably have about 12 short magazine boxes of my better silver/golden age material organized (although I have to open the box to see what it is), although no database -- I've probably only grown that component of the collection by 20% since I did that organization and those new acquisitions are mixed in with all the other junk I've bought over the last few years, mostly a lot of mid/early 70s BA.

[ComicBookGuy]

I had posted a query about databases earlier, but the whole process scares me because I have a job and this could take years...

 

Who here with large collections (more than 10,000 comics let's say) keeps an index? Do you keep them all in order?

 

Just curious where I stand on the disorganization spectrum.

 

Good idea for a post.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this lately cause I just moved. Carrying a box of comics up two flights of stairs to the upstairs of my new house helps to make me less enamored of certain titles, such as ALL 150 issues of Defenders, or post-Byrne FF's, for example. My goal is to get rid of most post-1980s stuff and get down to a reasonable size silver & bronze collection instead of a complete set of everything. My indexing consists of one index card with the issues I need to complete my collections and issue numbers are in parentheses if they need to be upgraded. It's a very simple system because I need so little, and I know in my head which titles I collect. I started a database at one point, but realized, for me at least, there was no reason. If I have a complete set of Avengers, for example, I KNOW I have a complete set, so why make a database? The only thing I really need to know is which ones are missing and which have to be upgraded so I know what to search for at a convention or when cruising ebay.

[hobbes]

I keep a spreadsheet but I do not document every single comic I own. I only keep an inventory of titles that have earned a permenant place in my collection. The set up is very simple but extremely effective. Someday I would like to put the heart of my collection online so I can easily access what I have and do not have from wherever I may be.

[NewtSamson]

I had posted a query about databases earlier, but the whole process scares me because I have a job and this could take years...

 

Who here with large collections (more than 10,000 comics let's say) keeps an index? Do you keep them all in order?

 

Just curious where I stand on the disorganization spectrum.

I wish I had kept an index. I have 14 long boxes and every comic is out of order. It's gonna take forevere for me to remember my ABCs to put them back in order.

[Norrin_Radd]

I have every comic book I've ever bought on eBay/Heritage/LCS in an Excel spreadsheet. When I sell one, I mark down the eBay Item Number, date sold, and who it sold to. I also have a spreadsheet for CGC slabs with the purchase information and serial numbers.