Cataloging Your Collection? (Warning - Extreme Data Nerdery Ahead!)

I've thought about making something like this, but then I feel totally exhausted by the idea. My thought was that I would use it more like an inventory, for the purposes of insurance and/or to remember what I paid for something that I now want to sell. But after you mentioned you could make a graph that shows how many you bought/sold in a year... that would be interesting to see for all the years I've been in the hobby! So that would make it more of a historical record, which seems kinda fun and not work-like. Hmm!

 

I definitely want to make something - right now it's just notes on paper though. I basically want a database so that if I were to die, my family would know what my collection is worth, instead of trashing or donating it.

 

"Extreme Data Nerdery Ahead" - don't threaten me with a good time.

I have thought about this a lot - both from tax and estate planning perspectives. Here's what I've been thinking:
A picture of the doll (for next of kin to identify).
Whether the doll was purchased blank or with company face-up.
Whether doll was purchased as a full set (and a separate section for the full set with a picture).
Whether the doll was a limited edition or a standard release.
Edited to add: if there are modifications, what and where they are.
If the company is still around or defunct.
A picture and description of the CoA, if the doll has one (and an explanation of where to find it).
Cost: split into doll price, shipping, and taxes.
If purchased secondhand, "chain of title" - did I purchase from the first owner? If not, who did they buy from? I have been known to print PDFs of feedback and combine them to trace when the doll changed hands, and who through.
Who I think would want the doll when I die.
Finally: a listing of current dealers and appraisers.
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I die a little inside when I see very expensive dolls for sale on Goodwill, because the family has no idea how much money they lost.

 

I have most of the same information on my spreadsheet but include a note column to document if it is a full set, artist faceup, missing parts, damage, etc. Then I assign each doll an id number or letter. I got small jewelry charms with letters or numbers on them and stick their id number or letter inside the doll’s head cap with eye putty. Then all of the doll’s items go in their box also labeled with their id.

 

I am stealing this. This is brilliant.

 

It works better than pictures for me because I would forget to update pictures when I change the doll’s look.

 

I have Word documents for each of my dolls! I originally made them for the purpose of having my doll's basic data like skin colour and measurements handy (I hand measure my dolls just incase their measurements differ from the ones provided, or aren't provided). Now I also use them to keep track of any parts that belong to them, character data, and have detailed checklist of any work I've done, work to be done, and any ideas I have for outfits I want for them.

 

Yes, but not in such detail. Each doll has a character sheet with all of the stuff about who they are, but I also have a document with each doll by the name I gave them, then their company, sculpt, color, year made (if known--several are secondhand) and what I paid (roughly, since some were trades). Clothes....nope. I have a spreadsheet where I keep a tally of how many pieces each doll has to be sure they all have a basic wardrobe, but I don't go any more in depth on that. I also have a list of every sculpt I've owned....and...well....after 15 and a half years in the hobby and being a "revolving door" collector...it's a very very long list...

 

Oh appraisers would be good to know! I admit I don't check goodwill but I've heard the stories and I don't want my family to miss out on money they could use because they just wanted my stuff gone. (Sadly I am not royalty, I cannot be buried with my hoard of things.)

 

I have two ways.

A google spreadsheet with the basic data like (sorted by arrival):
- Number in collection
- Doll name
- pronouns
- Sculpt name
- Company
- Body (if hybrid)
- day of arrival
- Face up artist
- Species
- other (if I remember putting it in)

And then on my website I have character profiles those include (sorted by themes):
- Doll Photo
- Character Drawing (aka the character the doll is based on may it my own or from a show/book/comic)
- Name
- Sculpt / Parts used / Company
- Based Character / Source (Original Work/Fandom)
- Date of acquisition
- Day of arrival
- Bought through
- Resin color
- Face up
- Other (for specific things like mods, or if there is several variants of a character)
- A link to the character tag on my blog for photos & wips
- A character summary


Then I have a list in word where I have them sorted by size just for a overview how many of a size I have (I have to admit I forget to update that one)

 

I'd honestly really like to have a nice fancy catalogue of all my dolls, but spreadsheets are impenetrable wizardry to me and keeping a plain ol' list in Word just doesn't have the same oomph. My collection is small enough that I currently have little trouble just keeping everything in my head. I should probably start writing things down though, I can never remember offhand what company one of my little pet dolls comes from.

I'm still only in my late 20's, so thinking about a catalogue of them for estate purposes hasn't really entered my mind outside of frantic anxious episodes where I'm tearfully assigning all my stuff to various friends. "And you can have all my manga..... you, my notebooks..... you, my dolls....."

 

I love this thread as someone who lives via spreadsheets and Notion tables! I am in a hobby for app. 1.5 year and decided to do Google Sheet where I keep dolls’ data. I decided it early on so it was not that hard to keep it up as dolls come in. I do not keep records of flying heads or bodies. One record per complete doll. If there is a spare head…Well, it is not gonna stay spare for long!

Notion is my go-to/all-in-one-place management app these days so I am thinking on moving data there as well or link.

My database lists:

• Dolls sculpt + body type/number
• Date of aquisition (might be separate for hybrids)
• Month received (probably most accurately estimating casting time should I ever seek part to match).
• For SH dolls - separate row with original provenance date as stated by previous owner
• Doll price only (no shipping, no taxes). It would be difficult to track those accurately and would not use them either way to estimate doll’s value if selling.
• Resin colour
• Dealer/secondhand - name of the previous owner. If I was to be third, fourth etc. owner I’d keep chain of ownership wherever possible
• Doll measurements, detailed.
• Eyes and wig sizes that match
• Name and gender

I really like the idea with IDs and photos. I have more trouble with keeping each doll CoAs and booklets in one place though! Oh and I hate how some companies (DC, looking at you) constantly change their CoAs. I have two same dolls, bought via different dealers/years and one have a blank CoA once the other has the postcard plus a number, drives me crazy. Either way, I love data

 

This thread is full of good ideas for data keeping, I might have to start something like this. Just thinking out loud, I think this is what I'll go with:

Doll's Name
Company Name and Sculpt (if hybrid, add those notes as well)
Details (version, resin color, damage, mods)
Country of Origin (just for fun)
Year of Manufacture
Date Acquired (the day it arrived to me or the day I purchased it in person)
Provenance (as far as I can track it)
Original Price (estimated for some of them, it's been a while)
Modder and/or Faceup Artist
Price of Extras (mods, faceup, permanent things like this)
Current Value (based on recent sales on places like DOA, ebay, etc.)

So it'd be kind of a mix of stuff for me and stuff for anyone in the potential future looking to appraise them. I just can't decide how I'd want to make sure each doll is recognized with its data. With pictures? With a detailed description? With @NineOneThree 's method? I do like that idea, it's very smart!

As an aside, I think I'll keep this information in OneNote for now, it seems the easiest for me to organize it.

 

*raises hand* Spreadsheet/statistics/record keeping maniac here. I keep doll records in two places: Notion for "hard data", and Standard Notes for "soft data".

Notion does databases really well, so I use it for inventory and expense tracking - basically anything to do with "hard data" and numbers. I keep separate databases for dolls/resin parts, clothes, shoes, wigs, eyes, and miscellaneous (props, accessories) and I record every detail to within an inch of its life. My Inventory template is mostly like this:

Probably the only thing I don't record are things I've sewn or handmade for my dolls. I probably should!

I also use Notion to track spending and preorders. This is such an expensive hobby and I need to take care with my budget, so I track literally every dollar including shipping. My spending/shipping patterns are also complicated -- I buy regularly from Taobao/Xianyu and often have things waiting in a proxy warehouse ready to consolidate and ship to me, and I join preorders (both resin and non-resin) with all lengths of waiting times and different deposit/balance payments. I use Notion's kanban/Trello board as my Expense Tracker, and have a separate Preorder Tracker database. They help me remember what preorders I'm part of, whether I owe any layaways or final payments, how long I've been waiting and whether to ask for updates and ETA from the seller.

It took me some time to set up these systems and I'm constantly tweaking them (and I enjoy tweaking ) ... but most of the hard work is done now and it's easy to record new info. Now I can't really live without my Expense Tracker!

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I also use Standard Notes (a note-taking app) to collect "soft data" -- basically anything that's text-based and doesn't rely so much on numbers and images.

Each of my dolls has a Profile Sheet, and I keep all kinds of info here, basically anything and everything that seems worth knowing about my dolls. A few things I record...

My complete Doll Profile Sheet template has over 30 categories, and is likely to keep growing - I'm sure I'll think of something new to record! Though to be fair, half of it is character development information (since I shell OCs). And that's not all... I have a whole other document with worldbuilding and yet more character development for my dolls...

I have only a handful of dolls so all this record keeping is easy to do ... so far. Hopefully it's robust enough to grow as my doll crew grows.

 

I'm as librarian currently employed as a cataloguer, and I really SHOUDL catalogue my collection (and my books and.. and... and..) but I'm terrible at ortganising my owm stuff.

Let me loose on other people's and I'll get it done. With my own, I might, possibly, make a start but there's no way I'll get aorund to follwing through and finishing. I even tried starting a simple harbound notebook with every doll's detils in (along with spaces for my plans for clothing/accessories for each)... I didn't get through listing names of the dolls I had at the time, let alone their company and scultp details etc. I'm not sur I even knwo where that notebook is.

Teddy

 

I did something like this at the beginning but for some reason I stopped updating it years ago and I totally want to start over, but... time and big enough motivation boost are missing X

 

I don´t want to have no more than three dolls (my Holy Grail Popovy, my 2nd hand and possibly a Ringdoll Dracula by chance).
I hope I can keep up with that.

 

I feel like there are a lot of people in that exact same situation. It's just so much easier to get distracted with your own stuff and there's more emotions attached to unfinished or ongoing projects. Other people's stuff can be really interesting - I love looking at dolls that I would never actually want to own - but it's not yours.

The solution would be like a trade off of doll organising where you do someone else's and someone else does yours. Or like a round robin of doll organisation if there were more than a few people. Unfortunately I feel like that would be a nightmare to organise on both a logistics and safety level.

 

Well thanks to this thread I finally got one done for my dolls! Apparently the only thing holding me back from even making a start on one sooner was simply not being able to think of what all to note down, worrying I would remember something important later on that would then force me to go dig all the orders and emails and everything up all over again. Took me a bit less than 3 hours, and thankfully all the information was still up somewhere, even my markings on all the different waiting lists were still there, as when I have received the dolls is what I was most curious about.

I'll hopefully eventually get around to making another spreadsheet for everything to do with their eyes. I have some measurements and stuff written down in a physical notebook but I've noticed it would be much easier to have all of that info on the PC instead, as I don't really need the info unless I'm shopping for new eyes.

Oh and I guess a spreadsheet for all their names (and meanings of names) could be helpful to have as well, as many have different names in my story than they do in doll form and I've found myself sometimes getting them mixed up which was supposed to be which.