Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 1020203 search inquires.

Selected title: Carbon spot
Explanation: A spot seen mainly on copper and gold coins, though also occasionally found on U.S. nickel coins (which are 75% copper) and silver coins (which are 10% copper). Carbon spots are brown to black spots of oxidation that range from minor to severe – some so large and far advanced that the coin is not graded because of environmental damage

Most popular coin titles

DefinitionSearchesPercentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70) 55105 13.64%
Silver Clad 32082 7.94%
Coin Silver 24166 5.98%
Slabbed Coins 23094 5.72%
BN 22662 5.61%
Encapsulated Coin 21699 5.37%
RB 21108 5.23%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 18152 4.49%
PF (PF60, PF70) 17882 4.43%
Reeded Edge 16915 4.19%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 16819 4.16%
PR (PR60, PR70) 15868 3.93%
Rarity 15781 3.91%
PQ 15690 3.88%
MS (MS60-MS70) 15449 3.83%
Incuse 14752 3.65%
Coin drop 14473 3.58%
High Relief 14377 3.56%
Reverse Cameo 14043 3.48%
Obverse or Face side 13762 3.41%