What I've constructed is a document to give to non-experts to help with first round keyboard sorting. This assumes one "expert" and multiple individuals who are not experts but are capable of learning and following patterns. I've tried to "keep it simple" and restrict it to one double sided sheet of Letter or A4 paper.
The full guide, version 1, is here as an image attachment.
Keyboard Identification Field Guide
Goal: To separate out keyboards that could be interesting to collectors.
Step 1: Place every keyboard into one of three piles.
YES means “leaves the warehouse”. Done.
NO means “goes to the grinder”. Done.
MAYBE means “take another look, maybe pull a key”.
We can't just sort by brand or model as there is too much variation.
Keyboards in the YES pile:
Clicky. Loud. Really heavy. IBM Model M. IBM Model F. Dell AT101.
Keyboards in the NO pile:
Rubber dome keyboards that look and feel cheap.
Work with someone to double check. Careful – once here, it's gone.
Examples: Dell QuietKey. Many IBM, HP, Dell, Compaq.
Keyboards in the MAYBE pile:
Chicony. Apple. Everything else.
Step 2: For every keyboard in the MAYBE pile: consult an expert.
These are words that describe keyboards that are probably a YES:
loud, heavy, old, big, small, metal, unusual connector (not AT or PS2 or USB), spherical key caps, dark keys, no numeric keypad, unusual key layout, unusual legends, colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown)
These are words that describe keyboards that are probably a NO:
mushy, soft, light, thin, flexy, cheap, hollow
Every keyboard in the MAYBE pile must end up in the YES or NO pile.