Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 1116175 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) 56002  13.26%
Silver Clad 32909  7.79%
Coin Silver 24966  5.91%
Slabbed Coins 23902  5.66%
BN 23463  5.55%
Encapsulated Coin 22401  5.30%
RB 21907  5.19%
PF (PF60, PF70) 18882  4.47%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 18852  4.46%
Reeded Edge 17721  4.19%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 17523  4.15%
Obverse or Face side 16969  4.02%
PR (PR60, PR70) 16869  3.99%
Rarity 16764  3.97%
PQ 16445  3.89%
MS (MS60-MS70) 16145  3.82%
Incuse 15477  3.66%
Coin drop 15313  3.62%
High Relief 15099  3.57%
Reverse Cameo 14837  3.51%