Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 858933 search inquires.

Selected title: Rarity Scale
Explanation: A convention for designating the rarity of a coin, such as Sheldon's system (with values such as R1 for common pieces and R6 for extremely rare specimens) and the Universal Rarity Scale invented by Alan Herbert (with designations such as URS3). The often used Sheldon scale is:
  • R8 = 1-3 known (estimated), 'Unique or Nearly Unique'
  • R7 = 4-12 known, 'Extremely Rare'
  • R6 = 13-30 known, 'Very Rare'
  • R5 = 31-75 known, 'Rare'
  • R4 = 76-200 known, 'Very Scarce'
  • R3 = 201-500 known, 'Scarce'
  • R2 = 501-1250 known, 'Uncommon'
  • R1 = over 1251 known, 'Common'

Most popular coin titles

DefinitionSearchesPercentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70) 52680 14.54%
Silver Clad 30167 8.33%
Coin Silver 22175 6.12%
Slabbed Coins 21043 5.81%
BN 20407 5.63%
Encapsulated Coin 19899 5.49%
RB 18826 5.20%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 16201 4.47%
PF (PF60, PF70) 15699 4.33%
Reeded Edge 14973 4.13%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 14919 4.12%
PQ 13744 3.79%
MS (MS60-MS70) 13611 3.76%
PR (PR60, PR70) 13574 3.75%
Rarity 13210 3.65%
Incuse 12617 3.48%
High Relief 12503 3.45%
Coin drop 12335 3.40%
Reverse Cameo 11860 3.27%
Obverse or Face side 11759 3.25%