Organizing a large collection

[jhorn]

Hey guys,

I don't know where else to post this so here I go. My collection of points, bifaces, blades whatever has gotten so large. I am unsure on how to store them properly and how to group them and or catalog them. Is it safe to use medical tape on the points to write their info on? My Grandmother did that on many. How should I properly store them? What info should I write down and keep handy?

Josh

[Hal Gorges]

Tape is never a good idea..Over time the adhesive will stain the objects,..folks will be along shortly to tell you how to label points etc., One fellow from Georgia us is clear fingernail polish base, then writes on it with permanent ink...That sounds reasonable to me..the face remains untouched...I just use ink on stone... some use the number system, a real common way is to write county and state, most old time collections were and are are still done that way, then as they change hands each new owner’s name is added... Or come up with your own method...if you’re finding a lot from one site, numbers is the way to go, with a master information file, leaving spaces for later notes as you learn more about what you’ve found, there’s all kinds of ways, suit it to your needs, it’s your collection.

[antmike915]

What Hal said and if you don't have them in frames I would advise doing that. Especially if you have them in boxes or whatever.

[clovisoid]

It depends on what you want to display and what you want to store.

My usual set up is a couple of display frames and then stuff in the rest in flat file cabinets.

Flat file or map files, are a chest of drawers with lots of shallow sliding drawers. They can hold thousands of points. I have a couple I found locally on Craigslist, and they are great for things 2 inches thick or less. If you buy them new or are in a hurry they are usually expensive, but when someone doesn't want them anymore they can be quite cheap second hand.

There is nothing wrong with writing county and state on a point. Tape and labels will eventually become separated.

[Artifascination]

I use clear plastic tackle boxes with adjustable seperators in them. You can write info on the lids and stack them for storage. The best part is the protection it adds to your artifacts. I accidentally dropped a box full of points onto a concrete floor. It literally bounced off the floor after falling from over 4ft in height. It made a terrible racket when it hit the floor. I thought it was going to be a grim situation when I opened the box. I was amazed that none of the points were harmed at all and it made me a believer in those cheap little plastic tackle boxes.

[Sage hen jack]

Ohh my!!!! Let the Drum roll begin. Looks to be awesome👍 Happy thanksgiving

[clambellies]

You should make a catalog of the sites that they came from. Hard copy & a computrer file. Then each artifact should be marked with the corresponding number. You can use a clear nail polish like "Hard As Nails" and smear a dab on the backside of the point. After a day of drying you can write the number of the site on the artifact with a ultra fine black or white paint pen. The nice thing about the Hard As Nails is that if you ever want to remove it a little nail polish remover will do the trick.

[MondoLithic]

The Collections Mgr where I volunteer uses Liquitex professional, medium gloss, glue to apply tiny labels with their site number and the point type numbered. So for site 185 all of the Bare Islands are logged under one number, 18PR185/ 1.064. The glue is great, water soluble, but dries good and hard. Hoping one day that my collection will be big enough to put that much work into it.

[Roots]

My collection has about 300 points already....they get catalogued, wrapped in bubble wrap, then put in tubs by region. However, that is just temporary storage. I would like to be able to easily view them.

Wooden display cases seem nice but I don't have a place to hang or stack them so trying to come up with a different solution. Initially my thought was to buy some flat files but they are very expensive, heavy and no chance the wife wants to see them in the house. So.....been thinking about buying one of those tall, roll away tool chest that have shallow drawers (like flat files). A big one is about $500-600 which in my estimation should be able to hold 1-2k.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-41-in-x-24-5-in-D-16-Drawer-Gloss-Black-Tool-Chest-and-Cabinet-Combo-HOTC4116B13S/312145943

Anyone using a tool chest? Other solutions?

Thank you