News-Antique.com - Jan 18,2009 - The History of Collectorpro Software Group
In early 1990, Linda Hiatt, President of Collectorpro Software Group, was a proud collector of McCoy Pottery, antique glassware, and decorative vases. After searching for an easy and comprehensive database with no luck, she asked her husband, Brian Hiatt, to create a Lotus 123 spreadsheet to keep track of these valued collections.
At the time Brian was involved in installing accounting computer systems and networks and was aware of products like Dbase, Clipper and Foxpro. Brian decided that instead of using a spreadsheet to track the collections, he would write a simple database in Foxpro for DOS for Linda to use.
Once the database was done and Linda was using it, Linda remembered that there was no commercial products for collectors to track their collections. Both Brian and Linda researched through antique related magazines to see if there were like products advertised. None could be found.
Brian then updated the software with a user interface and a couple of reports and Collectorpro for Antiques was born! A small display ad was placed in the Maine Antique Digest magazine offering software to catalog your valued collections for a price of $32.50. Within one week there was a check and order in the mail. At this point Brian and Linda thought…..maybe we have something here.
Collectorpro for Antiques continued to evolve with migration to a Windows version in 1995. Sales continued to grow as Collectorpro for Antiques was featured in many antique and collectible related magazines as well as national television.
Collectorpro for Antiques continued to lead the market even as more and more competitors were entering the space. Collectorpro was the first on the market and the first Windows software to catalog collections.
In 1997 Collectorpro for Antiques was greatly enhanced to include features to record sales of items and track profit and loss. Now Collectorpro was applicable to antique dealers and collectors and the market leadership continued. The support of the antiques and collecting community continued to grow and even expanded to include galleries and small museums.
In 2005, one of the valued Collectorpro for Antiques users contacted us and asked if there was any software for creating personal property appraisal reports. Brian and Linda had previously researched this market and had a good idea of what needed to be done. This client is a certified personal property appraiser and educator in the industry and agreed to be the functional expert on the design phases.
Based on the requirements, the first version of Collectorpro Appraiser Edition was released on May 1, 2005. Brian and Linda attended the International Society of Appraisers conference in Chicago in 2005 and received exceptional acclaim and reviews from the base of appraisers that had quit using their word processors to create appraisal reports.
Collectorpro Appraiser Edition allows the appraiser to focus on doing valuation research instead of time formatting reports. Appraisers report a 50% time saving in report creation which translates in to more billable production time for the
