How do you organise & display your collection?

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Hi, I'm trying to decide how to organise some of my collection and I was wondering how you guys display them for ideas? Do you organise them by size/scale, by company, by location/time/contemporary, by family/clade, or any combination?

[Mononykus]

Hi, I'm trying to decide how to organise some of my collection and I was wondering how you guys display them for ideas? Do you organise them by size/scale, by company, by location/time/contemporary, by family/clade, or any combination?

Mostly I display them taxonomically, but with some exceptions. Small figures (tube/Kaiyodo sized) are in a wall mounted display cabinet that fits them: it is shallow so they are only 1 figure deep, mostly, and the shelves are short enough to fit about 10 shelves. Within that they are arranged taxonomically, with inverts on the lowest shelf and coelurosaurs & birds at the top. Resin, Shapeways, and some higher-end figures (Paleocreatures, Fauna Casts, etc) get their own space in glass-fronted cabinets, and the standard toys are arranged on deep shelves by clade. Unfortunately they are packed in quite tight -- I need more room. The Invictas have their own shelf too (their monochromatic look doesn't really fit with the others).

[Loon]

Organise: I don't
Display: Very poorly

[Shonisaurus]

In my case I should organize my collection by families. I have the figures on shelves and in showcases that have cost me my sweat and tears to buy for their price but I have not ordered them in my case the less interesting figures of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals are in less visible areas and the most beautiful figures of my collection in visible areas of the shelves, that is to say in the first row.

My shelves are very wide and deep down to the wall. The figures that I like the least I put them at the end and the beautiful and impressive I put them at the beginning.

[Cretaceous Crab]

I have been displaying them by epoch, but I have a "master" set in my bedroom (coolest of the cool).

[Jose S.M.]

I have them by "group", you know, all ceratopsians, all sauropods, all theropods. Except for the top shelves that have one half of 1:35 figures (to have Safari's Tyrannosaurus, triceratops and ankylosaurus together) and the other half is feathered small theropods.
I'm thinking when I get the one more shelf done I'm going to try to separate them by scale, since the gigantic Safari Carnotaurus and the relatively small carnegie Brachiosaurus and Safari Diplodocus are bothering me a bit. I can with all other inconsistencies but those examples bother me for some reason.

[Neosodon]

I recently had to move in order to go to college. Now I live in a room that's very small with no space or shelves to display any of my collection. I have to cram it all into a single crate for storage.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Thanks for your responses everyone!

I recently had to move in order to go to college. Now I live in a room that's very small with no space or shelves to display any of my collection. I have to cram it all into a single crate for storage.

Oh no I hope nothing gets damaged.

I think I will group as many as I can into formations of contemporary animals, and group the remainder by family (apart from of a few of my largest scale and smallest scale figures).
Thanks.

[Brocc21]

I have three shelves over my desk to display mine. There's no real rhyme or reason to why there like how they are. It just has to look good and there needs to be space (I desperately need new shelves). My top row is dinosaurs and a couple modern animals. Left of second row is some Schleich figures and fossil replicas. Middle is some rocks some novelty items and a baby picture of yours truly. Right hand is sauropods some more novelties and a couple Chinasaurs. Bottom shelf is even more novelty stuff and some TF2 stuff.

[Libraraptor]

See page 1 of my collection thread for the answer.  The tension of the collection comes from the diversity of species, styles and companies.  And of course I put taller figures behind smaller ones  which goes without saying.

[bmathison1972]

my collection is very taxonomically restrictive, so it is organized taxonomically. However if I was a collector of general prehistoric figures like most people on this forum, I would probably organize by era and location (i.e., group critters that lived alongside each other).

[Halichoeres]

I think I will group as many as I can into formations of contemporary animals, and group the remainder by family (apart from of a few of my largest scale and smallest scale figures).
Thanks.

I tried something sort of like that when I first started out, but there are very few formations that are well-represented. At this point I divide them up by scale and then arrange them approximately chronologically within each range of scales. (So I have a shelf with all the ~1:18-1:25 figures, and they go, left to right, from the Paleozoic to the end of the Cretaceous.)

[SBell]

Somewhere on the forum I have my shelves photographed. They change as I add and subtract but it stays kind of the same.

Some shelves are by company (like the Dinotales), others by figure type (3d prints, metal RPG figures), some by size (all the PV, K&M, other smalls) and others by broad taxonomic category (fish get several, reptiles, birds, amphibians and oddball mammals all go in one). It's as much about how things can fit as how I can make it look good.

So it kind of depends on what you're trying to do with the collection!

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I think I will group as many as I can into formations of contemporary animals, and group the remainder by family (apart from of a few of my largest scale and smallest scale figures).
Thanks.

I tried something sort of like that when I first started out, but there are very few formations that are well-represented. At this point I divide them up by scale and then arrange them approximately chronologically within each range of scales. (So I have a shelf with all the ~1:18-1:25 figures, and they go, left to right, from the Paleozoic to the end of the Cretaceous.)

Sounds interesting. Half of mine are on a table not shelved though.

my collection is very taxonomically restrictive, so it is organized taxonomically. However if I was a collector of general prehistoric figures like most people on this forum, I would probably organize by era and location (i.e., group critters that lived alongside each other).

Sounds good.

See page 1 of my collection thread for the answer.  The tension of the collection comes from the diversity of species, styles and companies.  And of course I put taller figures behind smaller ones  which goes without saying.

I will certainly do that. I enjoy looking through collections.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I sort mine by company or line. I find that they look best together with others that are similarly styled.

As for display, I have a Carnegie mountain, and a few small shelves dedicated to toy dinosaurs as well as a few other previously-unoccupied horizontal surfaces. The majority of my collection is in storage and sometimes I'll rotate them out.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

I sort mine by company or line. I find that they look best together with others that are similarly styled.

As for display, I have a Carnegie mountain, and a few small shelves dedicated to toy dinosaurs as well as a few other previously-unoccupied horizontal surfaces. The majority of my collection is in storage and sometimes I'll rotate them out.

Do you mind me asking, what do you have in your Carnegie Mountain? And do you have pics of it?

[Derek.McManus]

Most of my collection was lost in an accident I gave some to a friends child the few I have are rotated on the mantlepiece and fireplace.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Do you mind me asking, what do you have in your Carnegie Mountain? And do you have pics of it?

I posted a photo of it in my collection thread a few years ago but here it is as it stands now:

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Thank you, that's very impressive  Lovely mix of classic and modern

[Shonisaurus]

@Pachyrhinosaurus It is a beautiful and organized presentation of Carnegie's prehistoric animals.