How to Track Who Has Your Coins: Chain of Custody

To track who has your coins, record every time a coin leaves storage: which coin, who took it, why, and when it is due back. When it returns, check it against what left, note any damage, and put it back in its place. Keep all of it in one log you can search by coin and by person. That record is your chain of custody.

Coins move constantly in a dealer's business. Staff take a case to a show, a photographer borrows the key dates for a morning, a submission goes to the grader, a buyer wants to see a coin in the back. Every one of those moves is a moment when nobody is sure where a coin is. A check-out record closes that gap.

Why custody records matter

• Loss and theft. When a coin is missing, the first question is who had it last. Without a record, you cannot answer, and everyone who touched it is under suspicion.
• Insurance. After a loss, an insurer will want to know where the coin was and who had it. Ask your insurer what records they expect, since policies differ.
• Disputes about condition. A coin that comes back from a show with a scratched holder is easy to settle if the condition was written down when it left.
• Overdue coins. A coin due back yesterday is a phone call. A coin nobody noticed for a month is a problem.

What to record when a coin goes out

Field	Example
Coin	1893-S Morgan dollar, PCGS VF20, SKU EC-01893
Responsible person	James Carter
Purpose	Show or exhibit
Purpose note	Long Beach Expo
Checked out	Oct 26
Expected return	Oct 31
Condition when it left	Holder clean, no scratches

Use a short list of purposes so you can sort later: sale, show or exhibit, photography, grading submission, research, other. A free-text note covers the details.

The responsible person should be someone who works for you. Coins that go to a customer or another dealer belong on a memo, which has prices and terms. Keep the two apart.

What to do when a coin comes back

1. Match it. Same coin, same holder, same cert number.
2. Check the condition. Compare with the note from when it left. If something changed, write what changed, and mark it damaged if it is.
3. Put it back in a known place. Either where it came from or a place you choose, but record which.
4. Close the check-out. Note the date it came back.

Do this before the coin goes back in the safe. Once it is in a box with forty others, a scratch is nobody's fault.

Worked example: a show weekend

James takes 12 coins to a show on Friday, due back Monday. Linda takes the 1907 High Relief for photography on Monday, due back Tuesday, and a half cent for a grading submission, due back in three weeks.

On Monday morning your list shows:

Person	Coins out	Due	Status
James Carter	12	Monday	Due today
Linda Brooks	2	Tuesday, and in 3 weeks	Not due

James returns 10 coins. Two sold at the show. You check in the 10, note that one holder has a new scuff, and record the two sales on invoices. His check-outs close. On Wednesday Linda's High Relief is a day late. The list shows it overdue in red, and you call her. Nobody had to remember any of this.

Requests for access

In a larger shop, not everyone should be able to take coins out of the vault. A simple rule works:

• Any staff member can ask for access to coins and say why.
• An approver (a manager or owner) approves or declines.
• An approved request checks the coins out to the person who asked.
• An approver who is not the owner or an admin cannot approve their own request.

This is the same idea as two people for a count: a second person on high-value moves protects the business and the employee.

Keep one log

Every check-out, check-in, extension, and access decision should land in one log you can search by coin, person, and date. Each coin should also show its own history, so you can open the 1893-S and see every hand it passed through this year. When something goes wrong, this log is the first thing you will open.

A daily and weekly routine

Custody records only help if someone reads them.

• Every morning: look at what is overdue. Call or message each person with a coin past due.
• Before a show: check out the coins to the person carrying them, with the show name in the note and a due date the day after the show.
• After a show: check in every coin that came back the same day, and invoice the ones that sold.
• Every week: look at open requests for access, so nobody waits days to work on a coin.
• After a loss: pull the coin's custody history first. It tells you who had it last, when, and in what condition it was last seen.

Common mistakes

• Verbal check-outs. "James has the show case" is not a record of which coins.
• No expected return date. Without one, nothing is ever overdue.
• Skipping the condition check. Damage found a week later cannot be traced.
• Using custody for outside people. A customer taking coins home needs a memo with prices and terms.
• Coins still listed online while out. A coin at a show can sell twice. Keep coins that are out off your other channels.
• One person both requests and approves. That is no control at all.

How CoinManagerPro tracks custody

CoinManagerPro custody records each check-out with the coins, the responsible person (a member of your workspace), the purpose, the expected return date, a purpose note, and the condition when the coins leave. The Custody page groups coins out by person with the earliest due first, and shows how many are checked out, how many are overdue, and how many requests wait for review.

To check coins in, you select them, mark each as matching or damaged, describe any difference, and send them back to where they came from or to one place you choose. You can change the return date for selected coins. Members can request access, and approvers get a notification. "Check out coins" and "Approve access" are separate permissions, and an approver who is not an admin cannot decide their own request. A checked-out coin shows "Checked out" in your inventory, a hold on a coin comes back when it is checked in, and the stock on your sales channels updates when coins leave and return. The Log tab lists every custody event, and each coin page has its own custody log. The steps are in the custody help article. For coins that go to people outside your business, use memos.

The short version

Record every coin that leaves storage with a person, a purpose, and a due date. Check each coin when it returns and write down any difference. Put outside recipients on memos instead. Have a second person approve access to the vault. Keep one log, and look at the overdue list every day.