Collecting Software

[Chris Perkins]

Someone has brought this to my attention:

http://www.collectionexplorer.com/coins/download.htm

Apparently, so far so good.

There's a free trial, so perhaps some of you could give it a go and post feedback in here.

It's American, so I don't know how suitable it is for Brits, but it does seem quite flexible.

[Gary]

I have had a quick play with this program.

My first impression is not too good. Yes, you can start a collection named "GB" and create folders for the various denominations but when you try to enter a coin in say, the Farthing folder, you cannot change the heading of the first two columns and you cannot delete them.

These columns are headed "ITEM" and "Quantity". I would prefer not to have these two columns and start of with the Year.

If you leave these columns blank you cannot continue and if you make an entry under "ITEM" you cannot use that entry again as the program will not accept multiple items with the same name.

Chris, have you worked around this somehow?

I have also downloaded Liberty Streets trial program and find that much easier to use, although someone who has not used it before could find it daunting. A negative is the american grading system but you can deactivate this and type in the grades manually. The Data bank is quite good but being a collector of bronze and copper coins I would have to modify it to include Peck and Freeman numbers by hand.

Collection Explorer costs $39 and Liberty St. Coinmanage 2005 $42

At the moment my vote goes to Liberty St. and I would be willing to pay the extra $3, but I am still playing

[Chris Perkins]

Thanks for the input Gary.

Liberty Street will soon be using Rotographic prices, and there was talk about having the Peck/Freeman numbers included too, in the next version.

So, the other one is a bit inflexible, fair enough. I've not tried it personally.

[Gary]

That is interesting.

What time frame are we talking about here Chris? Do you know when the next version is due?

Do you know if they are planning a purely British version with British grading built in?

good, VG, nF, F, gF, nVF, VF etc.

If they are planning to add Peck & Freeman Numbers are they also considering ESC numbers for Silver coins?

Do you have your fingers in every pie? (no answer required )

I was thinking of ordering the Coinmange 2005 but I think I will now wait a while to see what they come up with!

Thanks for the info Chris. Have a good weekend.

[Gary]

Chris, have you not put this topic under the wrong heading?

There is a category for Coin Collecting Software, surely this topic should be under this heading?