Online cataloguing, two sites reviewed

[Dave13]

First the disclaimer, I only know about these sites becaues I found them while googling for information about coins and medals and signed up to be a member much the same as the members of this forum most stuff found on line I think is random chance you search for something specific and end up with something usefull that you were not actually looking for.

I have used both of these sites for a few years now one site I use for all the more common coins in my collection just so that I know what I have the other I used for my main collection which I then sort into themes and sub-collections.

Neocollect.

First off is http://www.neocollect.com I think this site is brilliant it allows you to organise your collection as much as you like much like a database for example I collect crown sized coins so at first I was happy cataloguing my coins into one section then I thought it would be nice to be able to look at silver only crowns so I made a sub-folder and put a copy of silver only coins into their own section, and so it went on a section for royal events a section for aircraft and maritme coins etc. etc. As an example of how much you can break down a collection here's my main profile page http://www.neocollect.com/user/

You can keep your collection private or make it public or you just click a button to make a folder public so parts or all of your collection can be kept private if you want

Neocollect also has a community section were you can add your collection so others can see it and you can create your own communities if you want. I've made a cople of communities one for Commemoritive crowns and another for Royal families coins and medals. You can also make slideshows for yourself or for the world in general.

This site also has a swap/sell theme but I have never used that part of the site, it has a research section which allows you to write up notes and articles about your collection.

Each community has it's own forum attached.

A down side to this site is that you have to add your own stuff if you want a picture of your collectable you have to supply them yourself this is not a site that has a massive collection of collectables where you just tick a box to show them in your collection but it is a very adaptable site because the cataloguing part allows for lots of information and it is adaptable you can add anything medals, coins, stamps, tokens. So that was http://www.neocollect.com

Numista.

The other site is http://en.numista.com this is a click your coin to add to your collection site and you can add your own coin if it is not in the database quite easily. This site does not allow you to organise your collection in any way countries are listed alphabetical and coins by denomination one addictive feature is the dashboard a map of the world which fills in country by country as you add coins makes you want to get a coin just to fill in the white bits.

I personally use this site just to keep track of my coin collection the coins you get in a bulk lot you don't really collect but want to organise to see what you have again as with neocollect this site allows you to show your collection or keep it private.

This site has a swap coin feature I've used this several times quite succesfully members are rated by other members to give an idea of how the swap went all of my swaps were okay but sometimes things go wrong for one reason or another so swapping is at your own risk.

This site also has a forum.

To sum up the two sites my favorite is the Neocollect because I get a great deal of pleasure from organising my collection here in a way that you cannot in the physical world as too many coins and medals fall into to many catagories in my coin trays they are organised by date at neocollect I can organise a collection into as many groups as I like I have also organised my collection by mint and by designer but I kept them private it's just somthing I'm working on at the moment. I have actully wrote this post using the Neocollect article feature. The Numista site is good for general bulk collection organisation with an option to swap you coins with others and has several good features but of the two the best is the Neocollect for for being able to organise your collection so well.

Hope you find this usefull and at least enjoy looking at the coins and medals on the two sites. I've never wrote such a big posting and I'm worn out now so I'm off for a lie down now.

[Kopper Ken]

Dave, thanks for the great indepth reviewws for these two sites.  I had heard of Numista before, but not Neocollect.  Thanks again.

KK

[redwine]

Thanks Dave 

[Arminius]

Apart from these meanwhile there are numerous websites where someone may publish his collection.

The problem of a normal collector is: She / he usually has not the time and computer skills to meet the standards of a brilliant site´s standard as collectors are first of all collectors and not publishers. I estimate only 1-3 % of the collectors would publish their collections on their own.

As coin collecting can be a very lonely hobby depending on where you live there will be a demand for various levels of online communication to get in touch with other addicted collectors, but especially on a (low) forum level like this and others.

[redwine]

I am trying to put some pieces on NeoCollect but I'm having trouble with their hierarchical data structures .
30 years in computing wasted!    There's nothing lonelier than an analyst / programmer in despair!!

BTW I found another http://colnect.com/en   

[Arminius]

Gibraltar 276 data , Roman Empire 21 data 

Besides this imbalance, a personal problem i see with most online collection services like this: you leave your rights, data and efforts to an anonymous web client.


This acting needs some confidence.
(But what is copyright and confidence in the age of anonymous internet  )

[malj1]

I have eighteen web sites using Google sites which is free. A DIY system that is very successful I find many people use these, businesses as well as private and you have quite a scope to adapt it to your own style.

Just see my signature below for a couple of samples. From time to time I get feedback from the contact added there.

[nomadbird]

I have used numista and i like few things like  a MAP Showing Countries i have and countries i dont have in a visually good exhibition.... Also the hovering of he mouse on the countries which says how many coins and how many types is very good....

[cmerc]

Signed up for neocollect after reading this thread.  I feel the same way about some of the other members.  Adding coins is not simple and fast.  It takes ~2-5 mins to upload a coin.  Too long!  Considering I have eventually ~1000 coins to upload (20-80 hrs total!!).  Hopefully the developers will improve it soon. 

[Globetrotter]

Hi,

I've entered my collection, > 33.000 coins on numista and that took me around 5 months! Now I'm entering my doubles, > 13.000 and I'm around half way through after 4 months!

BUT, the thing is you cannot give up your priceless excel lists with the prices and locations. I find it a bother to update both the site and my excel files. I give MY files priority and so it certainly happens, that my numista file is NOT up to date.

I don't like very much that most numista memebers tend to think that swaps are 1:1, which is ridiculous, when you have doubles worth a lot of money. I do use their catalog as a guide for variants, it's a bit better than the SCWC, but there is still no section where you can actually see a documentation of said variants....

So swapping for me is still ecel sheets exchanged between two interested partners, it's fastidious, but at least you know grades and prices (in most cases).

Best regards

[Globetrotter]

Hi Paisepagal,

I have a field in my doubles list, which I introduced some 10 years ago, called swap units.

A coin with 1 swap unit is a 1:1 coin, with a swap unit 2 it's a coin swapping for 2 coins, and so on.... ALL my coins have a swap unit ratio!

I simply cannot imagine to set up comments for all my double coins in numista and keep them up to date? I'm just putting some Omanian coins (around 100) into my excel doubles list, which is fast, but if I also wanted to do this in numista using the comment fields, I would be doing that the whole afternoon!

Like everybody else I like to exchange coins, but with some proper rules, not one "common" coin from Groenland for a common coin from the UK, everybody can see, there is something wrong in such an exchange, right

Best regards