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The Spreadsheet
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60 posts in this topic

8 hours ago, alxjhnsn said:

I've thought about putting it in SQL Server Express, but I haven't seen the need - yet. :) Of course, projects like that are the best way to learn something new.

I built an Access db back in the day (2001/02, when Access was all the rage) so image could be attached. I soon abandoned it, more work on the front-end than value on the back. OpenOffice Calc (aka "free Excel") is low-tech and just fine for it. Anybody remember the heady-days of early consumer VHS cameras in the 80s? Everyone was "filming" their collections... lol

image.thumb.png.a7042bb06ef8acbd74fea47ff4f90732.png

 

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11 hours ago, comix4fun said:

Once someone's been at it for 15-20-25-30 years or more, spreadsheets are a necessary memory extender. 

Having a conversation about the provenance of a piece and figuring out when you owned it, when you sold it, etc? Check the sheet. 

Hoping to find that perfect example from an artist and are getting frustrated? Check the sheet, maybe you already own it and forgot. 

Want to make an argument for why you should pay less for a piece by a certain artist? Use your own comps from a decade ago and see the dealer's head explode.

But seriously, having owned thousands of piece of artwork over the decades, keeping accurate track of what came, what went, and what remains isn't something you want to leave to just your memory. 

I understand the need to know what you've got and where it is from, and for those who sell and trade, it makes more sense to keep some detailed additional notes, but that's not my situation. 

I do try to keep track of what I have and where it is from, but I also move art to different places and Itoya's. That throws off the recordation of information. Now, I mostly use a shorthand title, like "AparoPS20-4" for Jim Aparo, Phantom Stranger issue 20, p. 4 or "Barry:S-2019" (Barry Sketch, 2019).

Do others use photo titles as a way to record important information in a systematic way?

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4 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

I understand the need to know what you've got and where it is from, and for those who sell and trade, it makes more sense to keep some detailed additional notes, but that's not my situation. 

 

Well, you're lucky then. I know my wife is going to be highly P-O'd when I kick the bucket, when she's forced to sort through movie props, vintage toys, vintage D&D items, signed books, limited edition books, and a metric ton of Artist Editions that, if I don't leave some sort of detailed record to assist in the art's disposal, she's going to run daily seances and I won't get a moment's peace in the great beyond. 

 

Edited by comix4fun
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no slight on your lovely wife, but she STILL won't know what to do with your stuff.  Scary thing is we have accumulated so much arcane knowledge of our hobbies, that took years to amass.  Like how we can look at a box of comics and know whether its a gold mine or just drek without a guide etc. Just by looking at the covers.  The people around us just haven't got a clue.  Imagine someone leaving you their collections of something you know little about (cards, stamps, plates, posters hummels!).  And taking a crash course on coming up with which are the good pieces, which are drek, and how much they are worth, let alone how to best unload them.

Guess this is why dealers etc loooove when heirs bring in the stuff they inherited from loved ones who collected it..

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How do you tie the physical location of a piece to the information on your spreadsheets? I like to move my art around, and it has frustrated my attempts to find related information on any sort of organized table. Do you assign a permanent number to the piece which you add to the spreadsheet and track it that way? Any ideas?

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13 hours ago, Aman619 said:

no slight on your lovely wife, but she STILL won't know what to do with your stuff.  Scary thing is we have accumulated so much arcane knowledge of our hobbies, that took years to amass.  Like how we can look at a box of comics and know whether its a gold mine or just drek without a guide etc. Just by looking at the covers.  The people around us just haven't got a clue.  Imagine someone leaving you their collections of something you know little about (cards, stamps, plates, posters hummels!).  And taking a crash course on coming up with which are the good pieces, which are drek, and how much they are worth, let alone how to best unload them.

Guess this is why dealers etc loooove when heirs bring in the stuff they inherited from loved ones who collected it..

Besides leaving your loved ones spread sheets and valuations and perhaps even detailed instructions, I would also recommend that upon your untimely demise, that you also have in place a name and phone number of a couple of your most trusted and savvy art collector friends as advisors. I have several long term savvy collector pals that I trust implicitly that I KNOW will help to make sure that my family makes sound decisions on my art.  And if you have more than one of these advisors, it offsets/mitigates risk of their self interest (although again, these guys are people that have proven to me that they would only do the right thing, individually or as a group).  I rest easy knowing I have this backup system in place.

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16 hours ago, Aman619 said:

no slight on your lovely wife, but she STILL won't know what to do with your stuff.  Scary thing is we have accumulated so much arcane knowledge of our hobbies, that took years to amass.  Like how we can look at a box of comics and know whether its a gold mine or just drek without a guide etc. Just by looking at the covers.  The people around us just haven't got a clue.  Imagine someone leaving you their collections of something you know little about (cards, stamps, plates, posters hummels!).  And taking a crash course on coming up with which are the good pieces, which are drek, and how much they are worth, let alone how to best unload them.

Guess this is why dealers etc loooove when heirs bring in the stuff they inherited from loved ones who collected it..

Oh, no doubt. She won't have the faintest idea what to do with that stuff.

That's why with each sheet there's a list of contact names, numbers and emails for each type of item. Who to trust. Who to listen to. How to go about liquidating. When. What they should try to keep if anything, etc.  

The networks of friends and trusted fellow collectors I've built up over the years have found their way onto my lists and I have found my way onto theirs. They know what to do if I am gone first, and I know what to do if they go first.

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7 hours ago, Rick2you2 said:

How do you tie the physical location of a piece to the information on your spreadsheets? I like to move my art around, and it has frustrated my attempts to find related information on any sort of organized table. Do you assign a permanent number to the piece which you add to the spreadsheet and track it that way? Any ideas?

I number or assign a letter and number to each Itoya and then I just enumerate the pages (48 pages) and list them as such on my DB.

 

On 1/21/2020 at 5:28 AM, vodou said:

I built an Access db back in the day (2001/02, when Access was all the rage) so image could be attached. I soon abandoned it, more work on the front-end than value on the back. OpenOffice Calc (aka "free Excel") is low-tech and just fine for it. Anybody remember the heady-days of early consumer VHS cameras in the 80s? Everyone was "filming" their collections... lol

 

 

I wanted to build an Access DB and I still would if I could figure how to use it. I¿d like to attach the 600 dpi scan of the piece to it for further reference.

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3 hours ago, timguerrero said:

I number or assign a letter and number to each Itoya and then I just enumerate the pages (48 pages) and list them as such on my DB.

But then, you can't move the art around to different Itoya's (which I do).

"I do try to keep track of what I have and where it is from, but I also move art to different places and Itoya's. That throws off the recordation of information. Now, I mostly use a shorthand title, like "AparoPS20-4" for Jim Aparo, Phantom Stranger issue 20, p. 4 or "Barry:S-2019" (Barry Sketch, 2019)."

Since you asked, I take photo's of all the artwork and save it on my computer. Then, I use a naming convention to let me know what it is in list form in Windows. "AparoPS20-4" tells me it is by Jim Aparo, Phantom Stranger issue 20, page 4 (he was only the artist for the Second Series. If he was the artist on multiple series, the code would be Aparo2PS20-4. That would be the Second Series, same book and page number. I also abbreviate where I can to try and keep the name short (e.g., Brave & Bold would be BB or B&B). Same with names like Sienkewicz which would get shortened to "Sienk".

The "S" designation tells me it is a sketch or commission.

Edited by Rick2you2
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On 1/22/2020 at 5:04 PM, Rick2you2 said:

But then, you can't move the art around to different Itoya's (which I do).

 

I also move it around but update the database when I do so. It is tedious but I feel it is a must as I don't want to forget where they are located. Now if I can just get about 7 more Itoya's to continue that trend with the art that is only in a mylar with a bag board I'll be okay. lol

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49 minutes ago, timguerrero said:

I also move it around but update the database when I do so. It is tedious but I feel it is a must as I don't want to forget where they are located. Now if I can just get about 7 more Itoya's to continue that trend with the art that is only in a mylar with a bag board I'll be okay. lol

Do you photograph/scan your art and code it to help you later if you don't get around to updating your database for a while?

I have used a version of my code at work for years when I am working with MS Word documents. It makes things much easier to find later. There, I generally ID the recipient, date of sending, type of document (e.g., an "l" stands for letter) and a short discription of a word or two (in abbreviated form) after an underscore. The title is almost always tight enough to be visible in a listing. When not, I usually modify the code. Example: Smith012319l_R011919l (code for his Response to my letter of 1/19/19)(there, the invisilble part in a list would be okay as there would be enough visibly to check it more thoroughly)

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L also keep track of my collection via a spreadsheet. I actually have 2 sheet in my Excell file.

Original Art I Own
I keep track of the following in this sheet.

Artwork Title
Price Paid - How much I paid for it.
Asking Price - What I would sell it for.
Media Type - Pencils Only, Pen & Ink, Painting
Art Type - Cover, Splash Page, DPS, Interior Page, Commission, Sketch
Penciler
Inker
Purchase Date
Provenance - Who I bought it from and where.

Art I Have Sold
I track slightly different data here.

Artwork Title
Price Paid
Media Type
Art Type
Purchase Date
Sold Date
Sold For
Profit - Sold For minus Price Paid

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On 1/24/2020 at 6:57 AM, Rick2you2 said:

Do you photograph/scan your art and code it to help you later if you don't get around to updating your database for a while?

Yes, since I am outside of the USA when I travel to my friends house who receives art for me I scan everything at 600 dpi on a tiff file which I later convert to jpg in case I will show it to someone. I name the file with the artist name and the issue and page number. For example the shown cover is named EliasChatzoudis_ZenescopeIssue47Cover

EliasChatzoudis_ZenescopeIssue47Cover.jpg

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8 minutes ago, timguerrero said:

Yes, since I am outside of the USA when I travel to my friends house who receives art for me I scan everything at 600 dpi on a tiff file which I later convert to jpg in case I will show it to someone. I name the file with the artist name and the issue and page number. For example the shown cover is named EliasChatzoudis_ZenescopeIssue47Cover

Similar to me actually. If you use abbreviations and shortcuts for the naming convention, you can squeeze more content into the Windows lists on your computer. That can help when you want to find things if you use or switch to an alphabetical listing. For example, the name "Ellas Chatzoudis" could be shortened by eliminating "Elias", or eliminating the word Issue should give you enough space in your Windows Directory to see the whole file name. 

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I use a simple naming convention for my directory of art image files:

 

Title_Volume_Issue_Page_penciller_inker_comment

I have a _published image (with color etc) and then sometimes a _Heritage (auction house scan) or _prelim or _crop file as well.

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40 minutes ago, Twanj said:

I have a _published image (with color etc) and then sometimes a _Heritage (auction house scan) or _prelim or _crop file as well.

I also have some of the published images. I also have some of the images I got from auctions or dealers or artists but I am filtering everything in order to consolidate only my scans. If I received a piece that isn't signed and I get it signed later on I like to keep both files (before and after signing).

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