If we look at the C.T.C. the same as the R.E.F. No. which is a three-part system, & very much like a Traffic light system…
C = Cabinet
C = Cell
T = Tray
Short cross Cut penny
C.T.C. and how to create…
We will be using the traffic light system again on this to make it as simple as possible…
C.T.C. = Cabinets, Tray & Cells;
If we dissect the three words of C.T.C. we come up with Cabinets, Tray & Cells, which are then broken down further into an unknown quantity of storage facilities, so It is entirely up to you how you identify the three objects of C.T.C. but for the clarity purposes, we are using those three words…
For an example, one of my storage facilities is a coin cabinet, given to me by a friend, so the cabinet has been named after him, but the name of Ivan has been abbreviated to a capital I, allowing the C.T.C. numbers & letters not to get too big… within “Ivan the Cabinet” is nine trays, which i have used stickers to give the trays a number of 1-to-9, within these trays Ivan had a numerical & top-line system which i have adopted, as in this Roman coin you will find it in C.T.C. order of “I – 8 – #“ so this Severus Denarius can be found in Ivan’s Cabinet, within tray number 8, & the cell with the hashtag mark, denoting the cell [ # ]
Cabinets… the cabinet where the artefact or coin is stored…
Tray… the tray inside of the cabinet, holding the artefact or coin…
Cells… the cell is the space inside the tray where the artefact or coin is held… ( it will be mentioned within the article as “cell tags” )
Any Cabinet can be used, we are not just looking at a cabinet “per se” any facility that does or can hold an artefact now becomes the cabinet, for example, i have bottles sitting on a window ledge, a framed picture of typical roman coins, miscellaneous items giving to farmers etc… all having a different cabinet ref no… but all traceable and a valuable ref no when i want to refer back to them, the mind is fresh, only for so long… Bottles can have reference numbers via a sticker on the bottom which does not detract from the bottle and is barely noticeable… Whereas the picture frame, each coin inside has a number, on the back of the picture frame that number represents the AJFD number written on the back, which leads us back to the book and find spot for each of the different coins… This Frame holds the Roman coins found at different Rallys…
A perfect example of not being a cabinet “per-say” is this open tray above, but this tray will still be classed as a cabinet for clarity in the Artefact Journal, it is a storage area of artefacts, & will be labelled with the initial of my daughter, who purchased it for me, so like Ivans cabinet, Nicolas tray will carry the letter “N” with the tray itself being labelled as “T”…
These open trays are brilliant for display or storage solutions, with a hefty, fifty-three cells, the cell tags will fit quite nicely to either the back wall [ if being hung on a wall ] of the cell or laying down underneath the artefact, this tray has various shapes & sizes of cells, which will be labelled, with numerical, lower case, special key & upper case letters, special characters, signs and symbols, even emoji’s, which are good for special coins & artefacts, if you are clever, print them out on a sheet of plain stickers, even if your not artistic draw, scrawl, line-draw or a simple stick man, as long it will fit in the Artefact Journal & Field Diary, & more importantly, it is legible in the book…
The above tray [ cabinet ] i intend to turn on its side, as photographed and will be hung onto a wall, so different sized artefacts can be displayed, as for the C.T.C. it is not such a big issue if the C.T.C. is not visible [ although it would be good if they were clearly visible; ] other artefacts will be clearly shown with a visible C.T.C., and you will have an idea of the artefact you’re looking for anyway, with an item or two moved to double-check, so i don’t think it would present a problem, as with the above storage area, once hung on the wall, buckles, as with some other artefacts, these will be suspendered with small nails allowing a clear view of the “cell tag” –
An example, of how the artefacts will be displayed with a C.T.C. [as above ] is the dagger quillon shown above right, this will carry the C.T.C. of – “n.T.y”, when broken down it, will read as –
n = Nicolas – Cabinet –
T = Tray – Storage Area –
y = the Cell it is stored in –
( as a side note the above storage unit / cabinet will be labelled using the alphabet, first in capital letters as in A to Z, then i will use the alphabet in lower case, which will cover fifty-two of the cells, as for that last cell which will be for something special, that artefact will be labelled as a capital “N” but displayed in colour & with an underscore…
Northeast Detectorist 