Mineral Collection Management Manual
Background
Over time, mineral enthusiasts accumulate more and more specimens. Whether these minerals are neatly displayed on shelves or casually piled in drawers, collectors may gradually forget exactly which minerals they own, even repurchasing similar specimens years later, but not of the same quality as before.
Collectors also find it difficult to clearly understand how many varieties they possess, how many localities they represent, and previously taken mineral photos are difficult to find. Although spreadsheet tools can be used to record mineral information, practical experience shows that this requires great patience. Due to the lack of high-level structure in spreadsheets, it is difficult to perform convenient queries from multiple dimensions after data entry.
Collection Place aims to provide professional mineral information entry and management functions, and integrates mineral and locality lists from the Mindat open database. After entering information, users can retrieve their collections based on mineral name, locality, tags, seller, and other dimensions, and obtain intuitive data statistics.
Adding Specimens
Entry Point: Top right corner of the page - Mineral Collection
The information for a mineral specimen includes: Specimen ID, mineral composition, locality, dimensions, weight, purchase information (such as purchase date, price, seller, etc.), previous collector information, collection information, and custom tags.
Before adding the first mineral information, the system will prompt users to set preferences, such as the style of mineral IDs, price currency, unit of measurement, and adding ID series.
Added mineral specimens can be set to public or private, and some information can also be individually controlled for public display status.
ID Series
We can add specific ID prefixes to different types of minerals for better classification and management, for example:
- By color:
RED,BLUE... - By major locality:
MEX(Mexico),MSH(Mont Saint-Hilaire),YGX(Yaogangxian) ... - By main mineral type:
CARB(Carbonate),PHOS(Phosphate),SULF(Sulfide) ... - By main mineral hardness:
H2,H10... - By main mineral characteristic composition:
FE(Iron),CU(Copper),AU(Gold) ... - By acquisition time:
Y24(2024),Y22(2022) ... - Other custom classification methods ...
Managing Images
On the mineral details page, you can add images.
The information for mineral images includes: Title, description, tags, and copyright information.
Image Tags
Currently, image tags are selectable options used for basic descriptions of the images, such as: "Overall View," "UV Light," "Detail," "Macro," "Locality Environment," "Analysis Results" ...
Label Cards
Collection Place provides a label card design function.
Entry Point: Top right corner of the page - Label Card Design
After designing, you can select multiple minerals on the "Mineral Collection" page and generate a PDF file of label cards containing the information for those minerals.
Note: If you are designing double-sided label cards, home printers may not be able to accurately print on both sides. It is recommended to go to a professional print shop that supports high-precision printing.