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

I use the doll profiles here to keep track of things like my date of purchase and where I bought them from.

But for shopping and sewing purposes I keep a notepad (computer) full of all the dolls stats with company name, their name if different, doll size, body type size, the wig size, eye size, foot size, all the measurements for sewing or shopping. I started this with my first doll, so it's actually listed in the order the dolls got home to me, which I admit is a bit disorganized. It works for me but would be a bit of a nightmare for anyone else to sort through.

 

One more thing to add! I learned this when I bought Xinmeng Magical Angel Iris from a collector - and Xinmeng Doll has been defunct for a while.
Grab a screenshot of the company page listing - or grab a link from the Wayback machine and plug it into your spreadsheet/document of choice. Do this even if you didn't buy the doll new. It is useful, and it's kinda fun, if not a little sad to see all the companies that have gone out of business.
Speaking of which - I need to print out the listing of my Little Monica Sophia while Little Monica's website is still operational...

 

I'd never even thought about cataloging my dolls, this thread has been super inspirational! Taking notes so I can take more notes
Sadly even Wayback machine couldn't find the sale page for one of my dolls (got secondhand from someone who didn't know much about the doll to begin with), but luckily I was able to find some of the sale pictures :') now to dig up the original price from the depths of the internetses...

 

Not spreadsheets but docs is what I use for keeping track of everything dolly-related (because I really love making lists of things xD). It's nice to find out I'm not the only one doing such a thing.
My family is relatively small (6 dolls only), so what I do to keep track of them and their stuff is this, for every one of them:

1. Main profile (details of body and head with their measurements, company, date purchased and where, day received, cost, face-up artist, eyes and wig) with both a blank picture from their arrival and an updated picture of them now.
   
2. List of items that belong to that doll (clothes, accessories, furniture, props...) noting where and when I bought them, cost, and if they show any signs of wear or broken parts.

Getting a screenshot of the webpage would be a nice addition to that document, so I'll try to gather even the ones that have gone by now with the way-back machine, thanks for the tip!

 

This is what I do too! I hate spreadsheets, but I love lists and organized tables for some reason I also have lists of all the projects attached to my dolls, what parts they need, completion dates, concepts, what step of completion I'm at, etc.

 

I really wish I'd kept better track of my dolls - I bought many of them over 10 years ago, and no longer remember the details for them beyond basic sculpt names. I've managed to find some of my box opening photos on old harddrives and dates of arrival from my old BJD blog but I didn't document everything. I actually have one doll I bought in-stock from a dealer in something like 2015 that I have no idea what sculpt he even is.

 

I've been doing this with Google sheets since 2019 or 2020. I have two sheets under one document, one for Dollfie Dreams and one for Super Dollfies. The columns are slightly different for each one, but the bulk remains the same. Body/Bust/Sculpt (also notes makeup type/one-off artist when applicable)/Provenance/Price/Reason for purchase/Date Received/Name (OC name)/Skintone/Wig Colour/Eye Colour/Wig Style/Wig Length (short/medium/long/very long)/Age (OC)/Personality/Extra (currently just lists the hands the doll has). My SD sheet has the dolls colour-coded by resin colour, mostly because I have multiples of the same sculpt in different skintones. PS white is a light blue, fair is red, and sunlight is a very pretty gold. ATP I don't have amber or bronze dolls, so I don't have anything for that yet.
My DD sheet diverges at a few points, and it is colour-coded by base body type. Many columns are the same, but the DD sheet has some additional ones like Witch Name, True Name, Magical Affinity, Position (at the made-up academy), Fashion, Palette (just 2 colours they gravitate towards), and a slightly more in-depth Notes column with misc. stuff not worth making an extra column to document each item. I considered colour-coding my SDs by body type as well, but I kept mixing up two dolls (SDM-F-60s) so I opted for resin colour instead. I don't have any country of origin notes because that would be implied in the provenance column + they're all Volks, so all Japanese. Under provenance I also link to the original listing for those that were purchased from Mandarake. Everyone else is from Dollyteria (they purge their sold out item pages) or direct from Volks USA or International and can't be saved in the same way. I've been considering making some upgrades to the sheet formatting overall and maybe adding in profile photos somewhere, but that's generally reserved for the regular Google doc (where I have notes of what's on all doll profiles, both here and the vinyl forum).

 

I keep a detailed spreadsheet, with several pages so I can look up data already sorted, as well as a Word document for each doll when I buy it. A printed copy of the prime spreadsheet is kept with our estate documents. I still need to write up a guide for our executor so they can at least have some clue how to sell the collection. It's a lot of work, but better in the long run.

 

Now you have me thinking of what to write for when I pass too...how do you plan to write your guide? You've got me curious!

 

I use Google Sheets to document all sorts of things!
I have a dolly database that includes:

• Number (assigned based on date arrived)
• Name I gave them
• Company
• Line
• Sculpt name
• Small portrait photo
• Who the faceup artist is
• A "Still Own" column (which uses SumIf at the bottom so I can see a total of dolls I've ever owned and dolls I currently own.
• Notes (this is where I put skin tone and extras info)
• Price before shipping
• Price after shipping
• Sales price before shipping
• Sales price after shipping

I sometimes will go in and highlight dolls im considering selling. Having the spreadsheet is really handy for creating the listings.

I also have a separate spreadsheet comparing doll measurements (both for the dolls I own and similar dolls from other companies) and a scale converter with ages so I can gauge furniture, pets, and child dolls to see if they will fit with my collection