The Best Way to Keep Track of Collector's Plates

Gather all of your collector plates and place them in one room for organizing and tracking. Make sure the room is set up so that you will be able to work with plates individually and house others without having them get knocked down. For example, use a bedroom with a white sheet thrown over the top of the bed.

Take one plate out and lay it on the bed, on top of the sheet. Use a digital camera and take a picture of the front and back of the plate. Write down in a notebook everything you know about the plate. Include a visual description, where and when the plate was purchased, the amount paid for the plate and any flaws or noticeable features of the plate. If the plate has a series number noted on the back, make sure to include that in your notes about the plate.

Repeat the process of logging information and obtaining photos for all plates that you own. After recording information for each plate, store them in the original box, container or wrapper used for storage purposes. Remember to work with one plate at a time so you do not confuse any information as you are making your documentation sheet.

Upload all photos to a computer. Use the caption feature to enter all of the detailed information about each plate. Continue this process until all photos, for all plates, have been uploaded, saved and properly described.

Print out a copy of all pictures and descriptions. Make sure to print one plate photo, with accompanying description, per page. Once all pages have been printed, organize the printouts so that the plates are in chronological order. Store the printouts in a file for easy access. Repeat the documenting process for every additional collector's plate you acquire. Store the pictures in an expandable file folder for easy access.