Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 1041133 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

Definition	Searches	Percentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70)	55308	13.58%
Silver Clad	32248	7.92%
Coin Silver	24337	5.98%
Slabbed Coins	23265	5.71%
BN	22829	5.61%
Encapsulated Coin	21851	5.37%
RB	21298	5.23%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM)	18317	4.50%
PF (PF60, PF70)	18023	4.43%
Reeded Edge	17085	4.20%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM)	16942	4.16%
PR (PR60, PR70)	16017	3.93%
Rarity	16014	3.93%
PQ	15848	3.89%
MS (MS60-MS70)	15593	3.83%
Incuse	14908	3.66%
Coin drop	14639	3.59%
High Relief	14526	3.57%
Reverse Cameo	14205	3.49%
Obverse or Face side	13946	3.42%