As is the case with most hobbies, coin collecting has its own specialized terms or "lingo". The following, while not an exhaustive list of all the coin collecting terms that you may encounter, provides definitions for the most commonly used terms.

Alloy
a combination of two or more metals in a coin such as
cupro-nickel or cupro-zinc.

Ancient
refers to any coin minted before 500 A.D.

Bag marks
nicks, marks and scratches resulting from coins in a mint
bag being in contact with each other.

Bi-metallic coin
a coin with the center made from one metal with its outer
portion being comprised of a different metal.

Blank
a round piece of metal made for subsequent minting into
coinage.

Bullion
a coin made of gold or other precious metal with little
numismatic value apart from the current value of the metal
from which the coin is made.

Cameo
a coin with a frosted appearance.

Circulated coin
a coin which has actually been used as money and shows
some degree of wear.

Commemorative coin
A coin with a design struck in honor of some historical or
current event, famous person or special anniversary.

Error coin
a coin minted by mistake or with a design different than
intended.

Grade
the condition of a coin determined by a set methodology.

High points
the highest part of a coin's design where the first signs of
wear and tear generally appear.

Legend
the words that are inscribed around the outer edge of a coin,
for U.S. coins, the legend inscription is E Pluribus Unum

Mintage
the total number of coins of a particular denomination, date
and/or type produced by a mint

Mint mark
a symbol identifying the particular mint which produced the
coin

Mint state
an un-circulated coin in the same condition as when it was
originally minted showing no signs of wear

Numismatics
the study of coins, paper currency, tokens, medals, and
other similar items

Obverse
the "heads" side of the coin where a portrait of a president,
king, queen or other national leader appears

Proof coins
coins that are struck with greater pressure than normal
using specially polished dies to make the design more highly
polished or mirror-like

Reverse
the back or "tails" side of a coin, the opposite side to the
obverse side of a coin

Rim
the outer edge of a coin.

Un-circulated coin
a coin that has never actually been used as money and has
no visible signs of wear

Variety
any change in the design of a coin results in a new coin
variety

There are many, many more terms which we will try to define as they come up in this book, but this is a good start for the beginning collector. So, you may be wondering. where do I start? The choices are varied.

Rare Coin Dealer  

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