Measuring and recording finds

Good records outlive objects.

Record dimensions, weight, material, findspot, and condition consistently — millimetres and grams, the same fields in the same order, every time. Consistency is what makes a catalogue searchable later.

Photograph front, back, and edge with a scale in frame, plus a close-up of any mark, inscription, or damage. The unglamorous back view is the one future researchers thank you for.

Write the identification at the confidence it deserves — “certain”, “probable”, “uncertain” — and say why. Note what you compared it against, and what you could not check.

A careful catalogue entry — including your uncertainty — is what turns an object into evidence. Objects get lost, sold, and inherited; the record is the part that survives, so write it as if someone else will have to rely on it. They will.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on skills

Reading patina — What surface color tells you — and doesn’t.

Spotting casting seams — How an object was made narrows its date.

Recognising modern copies — The tells of a later reproduction.

General signs of a reproduction — What later copies get wrong.

Reading hallmarks and maker marks — A punched paper trail.

Weighing and the density test — Mass tells on fakes.

Home · Get the app · Guides · Museums · Privacy · Terms