Chain of custody for a collection, in plain words

How to keep one

1. 01Number everything. A house number for each item, on the list and on the outside of the sleeve, top loader or slab’s outer bag, never on the card. The number is how the list and the shelf speak to each other.
2. 02Identify each item. For a slab, the grader and the cert number, looked up on the grader’s page with the date. For a raw card, the year, set, card number and version. For each, one photograph front and back (see the photographing guide).
3. 03Record the place. Binder, page and slot; box and row; vault and who holds it; or out with whom. A place is a fact on a date, and the date goes beside it.
4. 04Count on a date. The whole collection, or a sample of it, checked against the list and written down with the date and who counted. A count that finds the list wrong is the point of counting; fix the list, and say what was fixed.
5. 05Record every movement. Out to a show, to a grader, to a buyer, to a vault: the date, to whom, how it moved and the tracking. Back in: the date, and a check that the same cert and the same card came back.
6. 06Keep the list in two places. One copy with the items and one elsewhere, both dated. A list that is only in a head or only on one phone is not a record.
7. 07Record gaps as gaps. If nobody knows where an item was for a stretch, or a count could not be made, the list says so with the dates. A gap written down is honest; a gap filled in is not.

What this check does not prove

• Ownership. Who holds an item and who owns it are often different parties. A good list records both and says which is which; it does not settle title.
• What a gap hides. A list is only as complete as its entries. What happened between two entries is unknown until someone records it.
• Condition. The list says where an item is. The photographs say how it looked on a date. Neither is a grading.
• What the card is worth. A grade is not a price. The lookup says nothing about value, and neither does this guide.