How do you mark and cataloge points?

[all_atv]

I need to start cataloging my points, before I start forgetting. I've been hunting for a little over a year and have close to 200 points I have found and some others I have bought. I think pencil marks with clear nail polish sounds like the best way. The nail polish will come off easily with remover, and the pencil will erase if needed later.
I mainly want to write down the location of the finds. But I just want to put the township, county, and state. So it wont give away the locatiions completly but still close enough. Also the date found, and maybe some other info about the point, like type and age. I think Ill do a letter system for the locations (going to double letters if I ever visit more than 26 sites) And numbers that will be for point info. Of course there will be a key for this system written down in a safe place.

What do you think of this system? or any suggestions or how you keep track. Thanks!

 

[Keokukjeff]

I keep site points in different frames..........
I dont write # or mark my artifacts.............would you rather buy a marked point or a unmarked point?
Start buying frames..........the bought points could be kept in different frames
When not in the frame they can be wrapped and boxed
I have a whole constrution site frame of 50 piece..............with the just 3 whole points that come from that site!

 

[Tnmountains]

I am having the same problem I wonder if a digital record burned to c.d might work? Guess that would be slow access or a pain to look up. Maybe thousands of zip lock baggies everywhere with little notes in them,,haha No really that is what seems to be happening here.
Its not a pretty site !

 

[Buckhunter]

I use artist ink and a pen like you see in an old movie. they are cheap and durable. It comes off with nail polish remover. For a cataloging system I use the number of the find that year and the last two digits of the year, also the county and state. So if it was the 75th find of the year it would look like 7510 Pike Co. Mo. Then I would log it in my journal along with where I found it who was with me the day and any other information that I thought relevant. If you take your time you can make it look nice. here is an example.

 

[joshuaream]

Buckhunter is on the right track. At the minimum I write the County/State for any artifact I buy that comes with decent history. I don't write length, color, weight, etc. because those details can be measured by anyone. If it came from a noteworthy collection, that goes on there as well. If it has old collector marks, I generally leave them alone. Go to any artifact auction, or any reasonable dealer and you'll see how many good relics have no provenance or history.

I have a simple method for personal finds that identifies site, county, state (or country), but I don't write on every artifact I find. I keep lesser artifacts from the same sites sorted by frame or tupperware container.

Stickers fall off, and those that don't have an adhesive that gets gummy/guncky and looks worse than a little ink. Worse, stickers can and are popped off a lesser artifact and put on a better artifact all the time. Meuser or Townsend handwriting can be faked, but I'd say it would be easier to fake the relic than fake the collector mark. (Jon Dickinson and several other Ohio collectors are almost handwriting experts when it comes to knowing old collector marks.)

 

[Treefrog]

guys i take digital pics of each and every point. i then make a folder for each location i hunt in. inside those folders are more folders with the date of the find as the folder name. inside that folder is the pics (3-4 of each side) of the finds in that area for that day. i can look back at any time and match up what im holding to them really quick. set ur view on the internal folders to thumbnails and u can see a small pic of each point in the folder. you can also insert text docs into that folder if you have something you want to add to the find. you an then back all this data up on a thumbdrive and you can even carry it with you to show someone elsewhere all of your finds if needed!!!
computers are the way to go!!!!



Tree

 

[Treefrog]

here is a sample of my dug finds from a shelter!!

 

[dognose]

I use a program called WinRelic to catalog the finds. It can be used many different ways. Each site is cataloged, and then each find is logged againts the site. See http://winrelic.com/winrelic.htm

To track the finds I use a unique relic number. To track each site I use the the Smithsonian Numbering System.

The Smithsonian Numbering System is the alphabetical list of states prior to Alaska and Hawaii (excluding the district of Columbia). So Florida 13, Georgia 14, etc. Indiana would be 12.

After the state representation, a two character county abbreviation followed by an incremental number, which is the number of sites recorded.

The end numbers like the 4 in 8LE4 are assigned in order or recording within the county. So, 8LE4 = fourth site recorded in Leon County, Florida