C, I would continue with your current sysem (2000.0.0) and leave all the previous numbers alone. It seems to me that the primary concern is that the numbers on objects remain both unique and associated with a particular object or group of objects. Since the year can only go up, and 2000 is greater than 942, 42 and 0, you won't have to worry about duplicate numbers. Actually, the only problem I notice (other than numerical consistency, which is just an irritation, really) is that a list sorted by accession number will not be in proper time order, e.g., sorted in ascending order, 43 will appear in a list before 1941. This can probably be easily fixed by an amateur programmer, three or four lines of code and an extra "accession year" field in your database. Does that help? Good luck! ====================================== Andrew Schuricht Consultant, Las Vegas Springs Preserve Project ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).