Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 999002 search inquires.

Selected title: Chop Mark
Explanation: Oriental marks or characters stamped into previously made coins, often found on silver trade dollars and other precious metal coins. When coins were used for trading purposes, an oriental assayer would test a piece of the coin for purity. If it met his approval he would stamp his mark into the coin indicating to others it was pure and accurate weight. Today some collectors specialize in 'Chop marked' coins. However, for many coins the chop marks may hurt the value

Most popular coin titles

DefinitionSearchesPercentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70) 54935  13.71%
Silver Clad 31935  7.97%
Coin Silver 24013  5.99%
Slabbed Coins 22920  5.72%
BN 22481  5.61%
Encapsulated Coin 21572  5.38%
RB 20899  5.22%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 18012  4.50%
PF (PF60, PF70) 17712  4.42%
Reeded Edge 16766  4.18%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 16681  4.16%
PR (PR60, PR70) 15710  3.92%
Rarity 15545  3.88%
PQ 15540  3.88%
MS (MS60-MS70) 15304  3.82%
Incuse 14594  3.64%
Coin drop 14309  3.57%
High Relief 14233  3.55%
Reverse Cameo 13869  3.46%
Obverse or Face side 13546  3.38%