Coin Collecting Terms

Like any hobby, coin collecting – or numismatics – has a language of its own. But don’t let numismatic jargon trouble you. Below, you’ll find a handy glossary of coin collecting terms you may encounter as you grow your collection.

Alloy: – A mixture of two or more metals.
Assay: – To analyze and determine the purity of metal.
Bag Mark: – A mark on a coin from contact with other coins in a mint bag.
Bank Note: – A form of legalized paper currency issued by a bank.
Bullion: – Precious metal in the form of coins, bars, ingots, etc.
Business Strike: – A coin intended for circulation (as opposed to a Proof coin made specially for collectors).
Bust: – A portrait on a coin, usually including the head, neck and upper shoulders.
Clad Coinage: – Coins with a core and outer layer of differing substances. Most modern U.S. dimes, quarters and half dollars feature a clad composition.
Collar: – A metal piece that restrains the expanding metal of a planchet during striking, and creates the 3rd side of a coin (edge).
Commemorative: – A coin of special design, issued to honor an outstanding person, place or event in history.
Condition: – The physical state of a coin.
Counterfeit: – A coin imitating a genuine article and intended to deceive.
Currency: – Any medium of exchange including coins, paper money and other items of value used in daily commerce.
Date Collecting: – Building a collection of coins containing one issue from each year, regardless of the mint. With date collecting, you can assemble one coin from each year of a particular series, or of a particular denomination.
Date and Mint Mark Collecting: – Very popular, and considered by many the most challenging. A date and mint mark collection consists of one coin from each U.S. Mint and each year for a particular series. Many series have a hard-to-find date that can be expensive.
Denomination: – The value represented by specific currency, such as a nickel, dime or dollar.
Designer: – The artist who creates a coin’s design (but may not engrave the dies).
Device: – A symbol or figure on a coin.
Die: – A piece of metal bearing the design of the coin. Two dies (front and back) come together against a coin blank to strike a finished coin.
Edge: – The narrow “third side” of a coin on which it would roll.
Encapsulated coin: – A coin that has been independently certified and encapsulated in a sonically sealed holder. The holder has a bar-coded identification insert that notes the coin, variety, date and grade.
Engraver: – The person who cuts the design into a coinage die (not necessarily the designer)
Error: – A coin improperly produced but not detected, and released by the mint.
Face Value: – The sum for which a coin can be spent or exchanged (a dime’s face value is 10¢), as opposed to its collector or precious metal value.
Field: – The portion of a coin’s surface not used for design or inscription.
Fractional Currency: – Paper money issued in denominations of 3¢, 5¢, 10¢, 15¢, 25¢ and 50¢ from 1863-1876.
Grade: – Condition or amount of wear a coin has experienced.
Hairlines: – Minute lines or scratches, often caused by cleaning or polishing.
Incuse: – The design of a coin that has been impressed below the coin’s surface, rather than raised above the surface.
Inscription: – The lettering that runs across the fields of a coin.
Intrinsic Value: (melt value) – Refers to the value of the metal in a coin.
Key Date: – A scarce, more elusive date required to complete a collection.
Legal Tender: – A coin, note, or other article issued by a government as official money.
Legend: – The lettering that circles a coin’s fields just inside its borders.
Medal: – A metal object resembling a coin but not of legal tender status.
Mint: – A facility that produces coins.
Mint Luster: – The dull, frosty, or satiny shine or finish found on coins, resulting from the centrifugal flow of metal as dies strike the coin blank.
Mint Mark: – A small letter that identifies the mint that struck the coin.
Mint Set: – Uncirculated set of coins of each denomination from a particular mint.
Mint State: – Same as Uncirculated.
Mintage: – The quantity of coins produced.
Motto: – A phrase or slogan on a coin that is often political or religious, and meaningful to a particular country.
Numismatics: – The study and collecting of coins or articles used as money.
Obsolete: – A coin design or type that is no longer produced.
Obverse: – The front (or "heads") side of a coin, which usually features the date and the principal design.
Paper Money: – Any currency made of paper or similar woven material (U.S. issues include obsolete Silver Certificates and current Federal Reserve Notes).
Pattern: – An experimental or trial piece, generally of a new design or metal.
Planchet: – The blank piece of metal on which a coin design is stamped.
Proof: – A method of manufacture by which coins are made using highly polished planchets and dies, often struck twice to accent the design.
Proof Set: – A complete set of Proof coins of every denomination made in a year.
Reeding: – A design made up of vertical striations applied to the circumference of the coin’s edge. The product of semi- and fully-automatic coining machines developed in the late 18th century, reeding helps to deter clipping.
Relief: – Any part of a design that is raised above the coin’s surface is in relief.
Restrike: – A coin minted after the year of its date from the original dies.
Reverse: – The back (or "tails") side of a coin.
Rim: – The raised circumference of a coin’s obverse and reverse, circling the design and protecting it from wear (not to be confused with “edge”).
Roll: – Coins packaged by banks or dealers in quantities: 50 cents, 40 nickels, etc.
Series: – All dates and mint marks of a specific design and denomination.
Staining: – A white to yellow coloration which occurs naturally during the minting process, commonly found on uncirculated silver coins.
Strike: – The process of stamping a coin blank with a die bearing the design.
Toning: – Coloration from chemical reaction to the air or other materials over time.
Type Collecting: – Assembling one coin of each design and denomination.
Uncirculated: – Without rub, friction or wear from circulation.
Variety: – A minor change from the basic design type of a coin.
Year Set: – Collection including at least one coin from each year within a series. May include coins from a single mint, or coins bearing different mint marks.

Read next: Organize, Protect & Display

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