Those dreaded words: record keeping. Why would you want to keep records of a collection built for pleasure?

You will improve the quality of your collection over time if you keep records of your American collectibles. Record the item’s appearance, place of purchase, person acquired from and price. If the person selling the item has a history for it, record that as well, even if it seems unreliable. Pictures of all sides of the item are a good idea also. Record wear marks or flaws.

You are doing this for several reasons. You will have an inventory of your collection ready-made when you go out hunting, and so prevent duplicate purchases. You will have an inventory ready-made if the collection does become valuable enough to insure. You will have an inventory ready-made in the unfortunate case of loss by theft, fire or other disaster. You will have everything you knew about the item at the time of its purchase available years later when your memory of the event may be fuzzy.

This also applies to items you already own. Sit down and record everything you remember about each item. You might want to make a note at the bottom that you are recording the information after the fact. All entries in your records should be dated.

Add information about the item as you learn more, like its identification based on a collector’s guide and guide it was found in. Then, when you look over your collection records, you can see how much you have learned and how much pleasure collecting has brought to your life. And that is why we collect, after all: pleasure.

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