I have a signficant short arm collection that I am trying to get a handle on. I've let the organization and better documentation of the collection sit unattended to for almost 20 years (since my father died) and am now motivated to address this.
To get the process started I've been doing all sorts of investigations. Trying to figure out where the best resources are and so forth. Through the experiment of posting info on several of the guns here (start here to see), I discovered that there is a fair amount of real knowledge here and that it's a useful and worthy community.
Next step is to fully document everything I have with the information at my disposal. This includes:
For the 30+ items in the collection (which I expect will grow <g>) there is quite a bit of information to manage. In 1993 I sort-of started a process by creating a Word document for each gun listing the following information:
I'm not sure where this "schema" originally came from, but I copied it from a typed form that I think my dad created and had hand-written the details on.
Via the Internet, I now have at my displosal FAR more information than my dad had and this schema does not really work. I need to expand it.
I could do one of two things:
Hence this post. Does anyone know of a standard gun collector documentation "schema" that I can borrow from/copy so I don't have to resort to #1 above?
I've looked around and have not found anything.
Via my insurance company I can get Collectify at a discount. I have been playing with it in trial mode and it actually seems pretty good. I verified that it's data export facility works well so I know that if they go out of business I can get my data (the Report functionality is also very good). It allows me to define whatever schema I want). I am currently planning on using this program.
FWIW, (and so I write it down myself) here are my goals for documenting this collection:
To get the process started I've been doing all sorts of investigations. Trying to figure out where the best resources are and so forth. Through the experiment of posting info on several of the guns here (start here to see), I discovered that there is a fair amount of real knowledge here and that it's a useful and worthy community.
Next step is to fully document everything I have with the information at my disposal. This includes:
- The arms themselves.
- The documentation my father left behind.
- Fjestad's 30th, Flayderman's 5th, Shideler's 19th, and a half-dozen history books on Colt's and S&Ws and other antiques that belonged to my dad.
- This forum.
- Various other collector sites.
For the 30+ items in the collection (which I expect will grow <g>) there is quite a bit of information to manage. In 1993 I sort-of started a process by creating a Word document for each gun listing the following information:
MANUFACTURER:
TYPE:
MODEL:
MANUFACTURE DATE:
SOMETIMES CALLED:
CALIBRE:
SERIAL NUMBER:
BBL:
NO. SHOTS, INCL. CHAMBER:
APPROXIMATE WEIGHT.:
SIGHTS:
SPECIAL FEATURES:
MARKINGS OF INTEREST:
CONDITION:
DATE PURCHASED:
PURCHASE PRICE:
REFERENCES:
REMARKS:
DISPOSITION:
ESTIMATED VALUE:
DATE OF ESTIMATE:
TYPE:
MODEL:
MANUFACTURE DATE:
SOMETIMES CALLED:
CALIBRE:
SERIAL NUMBER:
BBL:
NO. SHOTS, INCL. CHAMBER:
APPROXIMATE WEIGHT.:
SIGHTS:
SPECIAL FEATURES:
MARKINGS OF INTEREST:
CONDITION:
DATE PURCHASED:
PURCHASE PRICE:
REFERENCES:
REMARKS:
DISPOSITION:
ESTIMATED VALUE:
DATE OF ESTIMATE:
I'm not sure where this "schema" originally came from, but I copied it from a typed form that I think my dad created and had hand-written the details on.
Via the Internet, I now have at my displosal FAR more information than my dad had and this schema does not really work. I need to expand it.
I could do one of two things:
- Just blindy expand it using my own instincts and ideas.
- Copy something that "professionals" already use.
Hence this post. Does anyone know of a standard gun collector documentation "schema" that I can borrow from/copy so I don't have to resort to #1 above?
I've looked around and have not found anything.
Via my insurance company I can get Collectify at a discount. I have been playing with it in trial mode and it actually seems pretty good. I verified that it's data export facility works well so I know that if they go out of business I can get my data (the Report functionality is also very good). It allows me to define whatever schema I want). I am currently planning on using this program.
FWIW, (and so I write it down myself) here are my goals for documenting this collection:
- Learn as much about each of the items in the collection as possible.
- Document that information such that it is easily referenced and updated over time.
- Document the collection so that future generations (my son in particular) benefit from what I've learned.
- Be able to accurately show the value and disposition of the collection for insurance and trust reasons.
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