One of the most important parts of coin collecting is to organize, catalog, and inventory your collection. This is important for you, so you know what your investment is, what you have, what you still need, etc. This is also important for later in life, when your collection is inherited by another family member. Chances are, the person inheriting the collection is not going to know much, if anything, about numismatics and may think that you were just "some old person with mental problems who put useless coins in a safe." No, I am not suggesting that older people have mental problems. I am only suggesting that that may be what some people think when inheriting a collection, since they know nothing about it. The person inheriting the collection may end up taking the coins to the bank, or maybe to a pawn shop, or a thrift store, or maybe they know enough to at least take it to a coin dealer. If you have cataloged and inventoried your collection properly, others will have little problem finding out what the coin is, how much it's worth, etc. Most of the time, a catalog includes the following information about each coin: Year, Mint Mark, Type, Grade, Purchase Price, Purchase Date, and sometimes, Estimated Value. Here are the different ways to go about this.