Coin collecting has its own language. Grading labels, auction catalogs and product descriptions are full of abbreviations and terms that can be confusing at first. This A–Z glossary explains the words you are most likely to come across, in plain English. Bookmark it and come back whenever you meet an unfamiliar term.
A
- About Uncirculated (AU): A coin with only slight wear on its highest points. Grades AU50 to AU58 on the 70-point scale.
- Accumulation: A random group of coins gathered without a clear collecting plan.
- Adjustment marks: File marks made on early coin blanks to bring them down to the correct weight before striking.
- Album: A book-style holder with openings for storing and displaying a series of coins.
- Altered: A coin that has been deliberately changed — for example, a date or mintmark modified to imitate a rarer coin.
- ANA: The American Numismatic Association, a nonprofit organization for coin collectors.
- ANACS: One of the oldest third-party coin authentication and grading services.
- Ancients: Coins struck in the ancient world, roughly from the 7th century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.
- Annealing: Heating metal to soften it before it is made into dies or struck into coins.
- Artificial toning: Color added to a coin by chemicals or heat, often to hide problems or to imitate natural toning.
- Ask: The price at which a dealer offers to sell a coin.
- Auction: A sale in which buyers bid against each other.
- Authentication: Confirming that a coin is genuine and not a counterfeit.
B
- Bag marks: Small nicks caused by coins knocking against each other in mint bags. Also called contact marks.
- Bag toning: Colorful toning picked up from chemicals in cloth storage bags.
- Bid: The price a dealer is willing to pay for a coin.
- Billon: A low-grade alloy containing less than half silver, usually mixed with copper.
- Blank (planchet): A plain metal disc prepared for striking into a coin.
- Blue Book: Nickname for the Handbook of United States Coins, an annual guide to dealer buying prices.
- Bourse: The trading floor of a coin show, where dealers buy and sell.
- Brilliant Uncirculated (BU): A general description of a coin that has never circulated and keeps its original shine. It is a description, not a formal grade.
- Broadstrike: An error in which a coin is struck without its retaining collar, so it spreads wider than normal.
- Brockage: An error showing a mirror image of one side of a coin, caused when a struck coin sticks to a die.
- Bronze: An alloy made mostly of copper with tin, sometimes with a little zinc.
- Bullion: Precious metal valued mainly for its metal content — bars, rounds and bullion coins.
- Business strike: A coin made in the normal way for circulation or as bullion, as opposed to a Proof.
C
- Cameo: Strong contrast between frosted design elements and mirror-like fields, most often on Proof coins.
- Cartwheel: The rotating shine seen when you tilt a lustrous Mint State coin under light.
- Cast counterfeit: A fake made by pouring metal into a mold taken from a genuine coin.
- Certified (slabbed) coin: A coin authenticated and graded by an independent service and sealed in a tamper-evident holder.
- Cherrypicking: Finding a scarce variety or better-quality coin offered at the price of a common one.
- Choice: A word describing a coin that is attractive for its grade, such as “Choice Uncirculated.”
- Circulated: A coin that shows wear from being used as money.
- Clad: A coin made of layers of different metals, such as modern U.S. dimes and quarters (copper-nickel over a copper core).
- Clash marks: Faint traces of one side’s design on the other, caused when the two dies strike each other without a blank between them.
- Cleaned: A coin whose surface has been cleaned or polished. Cleaning usually lowers value.
- Clip: A mint error in which part of the blank is missing.
- Collar: The ring that holds a blank in place during striking and forms the coin’s edge.
- Commemorative: A coin issued to honor a person, place or event.
- Condition census: A list of the finest known examples of a particular coin.
- Contact marks: Small marks caused by coins touching other coins.
- Counterfeit: A fake coin made to deceive.
- Counterstamp: A mark stamped onto a coin after it was made, often by a merchant or authority.
- Crown: A general name for large silver coins, roughly 33–50 mm across.
- Cud: A raised blob of metal on a coin caused by a broken piece of the die.
D
- Dealer: A person or company that regularly buys and sells coins.
- Deep Cameo (DCAM) / Ultra Cameo (UC): The strongest level of cameo contrast on both sides of a Proof coin.
- Deep Mirror Prooflike (DMPL): A business-strike coin with deeply reflective, mirror-like fields.
- Denomination: The face value of a coin.
- Denticles (dentils): The tooth-like border just inside the rim of some coins.
- Details grade: A label for a genuine coin with a problem (cleaning, damage, repairs) instead of a numerical grade.
- Device: The main design element on a coin, such as a portrait or an eagle.
- Die: A hardened steel cylinder carrying the design that is pressed into the coin.
- Die crack: A raised line on a coin caused by a crack in the die.
- Dipping: Cleaning a coin in a chemical solution to remove toning.
- Doubled die: A die with a doubled image, producing coins with clearly doubled letters or numbers. Different from machine doubling.
- Double Eagle: The U.S. $20 gold coin, issued for circulation from 1850 to 1933.
E
- Eagle: The historic U.S. $10 gold coin. Today the name also refers to the American Eagle bullion series.
- Edge: The outer side of a coin, sometimes called the third side. It may be plain, reeded (ridged) or lettered.
- Encapsulated: Sealed in a grading service holder.
- Environmental damage: Corrosion or spotting caused by moisture, chemicals or poor storage.
- Error: A coin with a mistake made during production.
- Exonumia: Tokens, medals and other coin-like items that are not official money.
- Extremely Fine (XF/EF): A lightly circulated coin with sharp detail, grades 40–45.
- Eye appeal: The overall attractiveness of a coin — an important part of its grade and value.
F – G
- Face value: The legal value stated on a coin.
- Field: The flat background area of a coin around the design.
- Fine (F): A moderately worn coin with the main design still clear, grades 12–15.
- First Strike / Early Releases: Grading-service labels for coins received within a set period after release.
- Flip: A soft plastic sleeve for storing a single coin.
- Frost: The textured, matte finish on the raised parts of many Proof coins.
- Gem: A term for a very high-quality coin, typically MS65 or better.
- Good (G): A heavily worn coin with the outline of the design visible, grades 4–6.
- Grade: A description of a coin’s condition, usually on the 70-point scale.
- Greysheet: A widely used wholesale price guide for dealers.
H – K
- Hairlines: Fine scratches, usually from cleaning or handling, most visible on Proof coins.
- High relief: A design that rises higher than normal above the field.
- Hoard: A large group of coins saved together and later discovered.
- Holed: A coin with a hole drilled in it, usually for jewelry.
- Hub: A steel master with the design in relief, used to make working dies.
- Impaired Proof: A Proof coin that has been handled or worn.
- Incuse: A design pressed into the surface rather than raised above it.
- Intrinsic value: The value of a coin’s metal content.
- Key date: The scarcest and most valuable date in a series.
L – M
- Legal tender: Money that must be accepted for payment of debts.
- Legend: Lettering on a coin, such as the country name or a motto.
- Loupe: A small magnifying glass used to examine coins.
- Luster: The natural shine of a coin, created by light reflecting off microscopic flow lines.
- Machine doubling: A flat, shelf-like doubling caused by loose parts in the press. It is common and adds little value.
- Melt value: What a coin’s metal would be worth if melted.
- Mint State (MS): A coin that has never circulated, graded MS60 to MS70.
- Mintage: The number of coins made of a particular issue.
- Mintmark: A small letter showing where a coin was made — for example P (Philadelphia), D (Denver), S (San Francisco), W (West Point) and CC (Carson City).
- Mint set: A government-packaged set of uncirculated coins from a given year.
- Mule: An error coin struck with two dies that were never meant to be paired.
N – O
- NGC: Numismatic Guaranty Company, one of the largest coin grading services.
- Numismatics: The study and collecting of coins, paper money, tokens and medals.
- Obverse: The front, or “heads,” side of a coin.
- Off-center: An error in which the design is not centered on the coin.
- Original roll: A roll of coins packed at the time of issue and never searched.
- Overdate: A coin with one date punched over another.
- Overstrike: A coin struck over a previously made coin, so traces of the earlier design remain.
P
- Patina: The natural surface color that forms on metal over time.
- Pattern: A trial coin made to test a proposed design.
- PCGS: Professional Coin Grading Service, one of the largest coin grading services.
- Planchet: See Blank.
- Plus (+) grade: A coin at the top of its grade, close to the next one.
- Population report: A grading service’s record of how many coins of each type it has graded at each grade.
- Premium: The amount a coin sells for above its metal or face value.
- Privy mark: A small extra symbol added to a coin’s design to mark a special issue.
- Proof (PR/PF): A coin made especially for collectors with polished dies, often showing mirror fields and frosted designs.
- Proof-like (PL): A business-strike coin with reflective, mirror-like fields.
- Provenance: The ownership history of a coin.
R
- Rarity: How scarce a coin is, based on how many survive.
- Raw: A coin that has not been certified by a grading service.
- Reeded edge: An edge with fine vertical ridges.
- Relief: The raised parts of a coin’s design.
- Restrike: A coin struck later from original dies.
- Reverse: The back, or “tails,” side of a coin.
- Rim: The raised border around the edge of a coin’s face.
- Round: A coin-shaped piece of bullion made by a private mint, with no face value.
S
- Sheldon scale: The 1–70 grading scale first proposed by Dr. William Sheldon in 1949.
- Signature (signed) label: A grading label hand-signed by a coin designer, engraver or official.
- Silver certificate: U.S. paper money once redeemable for silver.
- Slab: A grading service’s sealed plastic holder.
- Slider: A coin with very slight wear that can pass at a glance as uncirculated.
- Specimen (SP): A specially made coin that falls between a business strike and a Proof.
- Spot price: The current market price for immediate delivery of a precious metal, quoted per troy ounce.
- Spread: The difference between a dealer’s buying and selling prices.
- Steel cent: The zinc-coated steel U.S. cent made in 1943 to save copper during World War II.
- Strike: How fully and sharply a coin’s design was impressed.
T – U
- Thaler: A large European silver coin; the origin of the word “dollar.”
- Token: A coin-like piece issued by a business or organization rather than a government.
- Toning: Color that forms on a coin’s surface over time through natural chemical reactions.
- Troy ounce: The standard weight unit for precious metals, equal to 31.1035 grams.
- Type coin: A typical, usually common example of a particular design.
- Type set: A collection with one example of each design in a series or category.
- Uncirculated (Unc): A coin with no wear.
- Uniface: A coin or medal with a design on one side only.
V – Z
- VAM: A catalogued die variety of Morgan or Peace dollar, named after the researchers Van Allen and Mallis.
- Variety: A coin that differs from others of the same date and mint because of a die difference.
- Very Fine (VF): A circulated coin with moderate wear and clear details, grades 20–35.
- Very Good (VG): A well-worn coin with the main features visible, grades 8–10.
- Want list: A list of coins a collector is looking for.
- Wartime nickel: U.S. five-cent coins made from 1942 to 1945 with silver in place of nickel.
- Wear: Metal lost through handling and circulation.
- Whizzing: Polishing a coin with a wire brush to fake luster. It damages the coin.
- Wire edge: A thin, sharp lip around the rim caused by metal flowing between the die and the collar.
- World coins: Coins from countries other than the United States.
Keep Learning
Every collector started by learning the vocabulary. As these terms become familiar, grading labels and coin descriptions will make much more sense — and you will be able to compare coins and prices with confidence. Have a term you would like us to add? Let us know.