Collection Inventory and Valuation Record
Itemise a collection properly, so that identification, acquisition and any valuation exist somewhere other than in your head.
CV-01 1 page
Hobby and craft logbooks · HB-04
Metal Detecting Find Record
A free printable metal detecting log — date, site, permission holder, the find itself, depth, grid reference or what3words, whether it was cleaned and where it was reported.
Download Free · no sign-up
One page. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.
Print it and write on it
Fill it in type and save
The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.
What this sheet is for
Keep the context of a find attached to the find, so a piece in a drawer years later still has a site, a depth and a position against it.
Who it is for
Detectorists working permissions, club members, and anyone who wants the paperwork behind a collection to exist from the start.
How to use it
- Record the permission holder on every line, not just on the first visit to a site.
- Write the position down at the hole — a grid reference or what3words, whichever you use.
- Note the depth while it is still fresh; it is the detail people always lose.
- Use the reported column for anything you have handed on or declared, with the date.
- Keep the sheet with the finds rather than filing it separately.
What is on the sheet
One page, top to bottom:
Printed under the title: One line per find — the site it came from, whose land it was, how deep it lay, where exactly it was lifted from and what happened to it afterwards.
Check the rules where you are. Permission, reporting and what may be kept differ from country to country and change — check the rules where you are, and use the last two columns to record who gave permission and where anything was reported. The position column is what turns a find into something worth recording at all.
Write-on lines: Detector & coil · Season or year · Recorded by
Table, 14 rows: Date · Site / field · Permission from · Find · Depth · Grid / what3words · Cleaned · Reported to · Notes
Questions
Do I have to report what I find?
That depends entirely on where you are detecting. Reporting duties, what counts as treasure and what may be kept are set locally and change — check the rules where you are, and use this sheet to record what you did and who you told.
Why record a position for an ordinary find?
Because a scatter of ordinary finds across a field is information, and a single find in a tin is not. Recording the position costs a few seconds and is the difference between a collection and a record.
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