"Collection Inventory" Topic

I have been looking at ways of taking inventory of my lead pile. I am curious how other do this. Thanks to all whom reply.

I have been looking at ways of taking inventory of my lead pile. I am curious how other do this. Thanks to all whom reply.

I have been looking at ways of taking inventory of my lead pile. I am curious how other do this. Thanks to all whom reply.

There is no easy way. The easiest I can suggest is laying out your stuff by some criteria such as era, type, etc. and take photos of it. Save the photos with a captions which allow you to check them when you need to. Of course there is no way to delete individual items from photos of multiple items. I collect ship models and have computer folders of photos. When I started I did the group photos. Now I take a photo of each model.

I just did it this summer because a stand was missing and they don't go anywhere.
So spread my Russians out on my game board ( 6' 7" across, 12' wide. Didn't find it, so on other side spread out my Prussians. Found the Russian stand in the corresponding Prussian box. Also found a few other things to straighten out.
Did video them spread out.
I did these in numerical order and by branches ( Infantry, cavalry and artillery)

I use a spreadsheet with numerous tabs : 15mm napoleonics, 28mm napoleonics, 1/600 ACW naval, etc. It's a pain to begin, but easy to keep up with

I have, somewhere, a spreadsheet for my 15mm WW2 figures. I did it mostly so I'd know if I already owned a particular unit/model.

I have not done that for any other "period"… :)

I was thinking about doing this again, now that our house got flooded, but this time making the list based on the manufacturer.

Dan

I started photographing mine as suggested above. After photoing 5000+ ACW 15s I ran out of steam. Then we moved and the boiler broke down. It is important to start so my missus can sell 'em when I die. Been feeling mortal lately.

I have a spread sheet in excel.
Set up by scale and project. It's a little disorganized after that some are by unit, army, # of figures, # of bases, manufacturer, product code, cost and whether it's painted or not. Some periods like wild west just list the # of figures and an estimated cost, WWII in 15mm currently consists of boxes from Battlefront.

A database would be better but I don't own a program and would rather spend my money on miniatures.

I gave up years ago

This is a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of post.

If you ever lose your things and want to make a claim for them, or if you have multiple heirs who will be interested in your things, make a photographic inventory.

Someday I'll do that. After I do our living trust.

It's not clear whether you are talking about all our figures, all your painted figures, or all your unpainted figures.

I once did an inventory of all my unpainted figures by period and scale. I totaled things up, and was so depressed I haven't done this again in the intervening 20 years.

I keep track of the figures I paint each month. They total about 10,000 now. I'm afraid that's about the closest I've gotten to an inventory.

Grelber

+1 evilgong.

Excel spreadsheets for unpainted mountain and painted projects (units) to date.

Have no choice….. the FRW & Imperial period napoleonics numbers 22,664 based and painted 25/28mm. The unpainted mountain (mostly lead) numbers 5,392 miniatures for napoleonics alone.

Same system used for 28mm ancients, 15mm ACW, 20mm WWII (FOW), Modern naval, and a few other odd periods.

Then each collection storage box contents is photographed. Photos stored on several media and updated each year. Since each collection storage box identifies the unit and the storage area grid determines unit size, confirmed by photo.

The big reason for all this…. so my sons can figure out what the collection is and can sell the miniatures with some thought and identity of the miniatures.. if they don't wish to retain.

I spread sheeted it. First in OpenOffice and now LibreOffice. But only the active periods and scales, one sheet for each. More than an inventory, it serves as a to do/ wish list. Beside the painted column is a column for unit size (e.g. 4,6/bty or need 3 crew). Knowing what I need and what I don't need is supposed to help me control my impulses.
For insurance purposes they want pictures. If your collection exceeds a certain value, it must be covered by a separate rider (read extra premium).

Excel spreadsheet by manufacturer and figure code with what they are and whether painted. Separate tabs for different scales.

Another tab to bring together figures of the same nationality but different manufacturers (by links) to see what the armies might need for completion or if I have extras.

Someday pictures.

I use a big word document.

Organised by period eg Ancients, Napoleonics etc
Then by army
then written like an order of battle with number of figures per unit noted and anything else useful eg green coats, red flags, chain mail and sword or 1x panzerfaust.

Eg 1st Bn Libau Musketeers, 20, White flag.

This means I can easily cut and paste to make a roster for a scenario, just adding the rules-specific stats.

Unpainted come at the end of each army and are either done 'by unit' or just by figures if I haven't decided who they are going to be yet eg 165 german infantry.

Tried once…gave up & decided the effort to organize was not worth the time/effort for me.

Basically, I pretend I know where everything is when I show people my doll room.

If I get a couple hundred bucks, I plan to get some custom shipping boxes, sized to exactly fit the cube shelves I have, so I can standardize the storage in hopes that that also standardizes the organization and inventory.

Try this:

collectioncalculator.com

I have an estimated 50,000 figures but I want to get an exact count. I am using the Apple data management program File Maker Plus. Easy to organize the troops into eras, types, units, company of origin, painter, etc. I take pictures of units. not each figure. Easy to make listings by various topics. Here are my Very British Civil War units. Page 2
link

Good for making rosters for games too.

Excel. Then use formulas for counting by scale, period, painting status, etc.

This is a fools errand.

You will never do it, and you will find it completely worthless for anything.

The problem is war gamers are not true collecters. We don't just want to own the minis, we want to play with them. That will mean you will not want to take the time for each miniature to log down place of origin, time bought, price, what units it went to, what the total value of the unit is, factored in with your own time and work.

That's for insurance purposes or replacement value only. If your collection is organized on a more esoteric calculus the problem exponentiates.

Once you do it, as I once did, you have an immense feeling of pride and superiority and a glow arising from your heart that you are truly a superior human being for having accomplished this herculenian task.

Two years later you will go back to your record and not have the slightest idea what you did or what all the gobbledygook means.

It's like writing computer code. It's all quite clear and transparent when you write it. Two years later when you look at your own code even if heavily annotated, you haven't the slightest idea of what you were doing.

There are some Sheldon & Leonardesque people among us who do this, but that means everything has to be in its original wrapper and untouched, which means you can't play with it, which seems to be the prime reason one bought it in the first place.