Glossary

 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Acmonital

 

Acronym from Aciaio Monetario ltaliano, a stainless steel alloy used for Italian coins since 1939.
Alloy Coinage metal composed of two or more metallic elements.
Aluminium
 Silvery light weight metal, developed commercially in the late nineteenth century for commemorative medals, but used for tokens and emergency money during the First World War and since 1940 widely used in subsidiary coinage.
American Numismatic Association (ANA) Nonprofit educational organization that encourages the study of money throughout the world.
Annealing Process of heating and cooling applied to metal (blank -planchet) to relieve stresses and prepare it for striking into coins.
Aluminium-bronze Alloy of aluminium and copper. Hard-wearing and gold-coloured, it is now widely used in tokens and subsidiary coinage.
Ar Abbreviation for Latin Argentum (silver), used for coins struck in this metal.
Assay To analyze and determine the purity of metal.
Attribution Identification of a coin by characteristics such as issuing authority, date or reign, mint, denomination, metal, and by a standard reference.
Au Abbreviation for aurum (Latin for gold), denoting coins of this metal.
 

 
B
Base Non-precious metals or alloys.
Billon Silver alloy containing less than 50% fine silver, usually mixed with copper. In Spain this alloy was known as vellon.
Bi-metallic Coins struck in two separate metals or alloys.
Blank Another word for planchet, the blank piece of metal on which a coin design is stamped.
Bullion platinum, gold or silver in the form of bars or other storage shapes, including coins and ingots.
Brass Alloy of copper and zinc, widely used for subsidiary coinage. The term was also formerly used for bronze Roman coins, known numismatically as first, second or third brass.
Bronze Alloy of copper and tin, first used as a coinage metal by the Chinese around 1000 BC. Often used synonymously with copper.
Bullion Coin A coin struck in platinum, gold or silver, whose value is determined solely by the prevailing market price for the metal as a commodity.
 

 
C
Carat
(American: Karat) 		Originally a unit of weight for precious stones, based on carob seeds (ceratia), it also denotes the fineness or purity of gold, being 1/24th part of the whole. Thus 9 carat gold is .375 fine and 22 carat  is 916 fine. Abbreviated as 'ct' or 'kt'.
Cased Set Set of coins in mint condition, housed in the official case issued by the mint.
Coin Piece of metal, marked with a device, issued by government authority and intended for use as money.
Commemorative Coin, medal, token or paper note issued to celebrate a specific occasion or to mark the anniversary of an historic event.
Condition the physical state of a coin.
Copper Metallic element, chemical symbol Cu, widely used as a coinage medium for 2,500 years. Pure or almost pure copper was used for subsidiary coinage in many countries until the mid-nineteenth century, but has since been superseded by copper alloys which are cheaper and more durable: bronze (copper and tin), brass (copper and zinc), Bath metal or bell metal (low-grade copper and tin), aluminium-bronze (copper and aluminium), potin (copper, tin, lead and silver) or cupro-nickel (copper and nickel). Copper is also alloyed with gold to give it its reddish hue, and is normally alloyed with silver in coinage metals. When the copper exceeds the silver content the alloy is known as billon.
Counterfeit Imitation of a coin, token or banknote intended for circulation to deceive the public and defraud the state.
Countermark Punch mark applied to a coin some time after its original issue, either to alter its nominal value, or to authorise its circulation in some other country.
Cupellation
 Process by which gold and silver were separated from lead and other impurities in their ores.
Cupro-nickel Coinage alloy of 75 % copper and 25 % nickel, now widely used as a base metal substitute for silver. A small amount of zinc is added to the alloy in modern Russian coins.
Currency Coins, tokens, paper notes and other articles intended to pass current in general circulation as money.
 

 
D
Denomination The different values of money. 
Die Hardened piece of metal bearing a mirror image of the device to be struck on one side of a coin or medal.
Designer The artist who creates a coin's design (but doesn't necessarily engrave the design into a coinage die).
 
E
Edge The outer border of a coin, considered the "third side" (not to be confused with "rim").  Some coins feature lettering, reeding, or ornamental designs on their edges.
Electrotype A reproduction of a coin or medal made by an electrolytic process.
Electrum Alloy of gold and silver, sometimes called white gold, used for minting the staters of Lydia, seventh century BC, and other early European coins.
Engrailing Technical term for the close serrations or vertical bars round the edge of a coin, applied as a security device.
Engraver An artist who sculpts a claymodel of a coin's design in bas relief.
Engraving The art of cutting lines or grooves in plates blocks or dies. Numismatically this takes the form of engraving images into the face of the dies used in striking coins, a process which has now been almost completely superseded by hubbing and the use of reducing machinery.
Error Mistakes on coins and paper money may be either caused at the design or engraving stage, or as a result of a fault in the production processes.
 

 
F
Face The surface of a coin, medal or token, referred to as the obverse or the reverse.
Face value   the sum for which a coin can be spent or exchanged  as opposed to its collector or precious metal value.
Facing Term for the portrait, usually on the obverse, which faces to the front instead of to the side (profile).
Freak An error or variety of a non-recurring type, usually caused accidentally during production.
Frosting Matt surface used for the high relief areas of many proof coins and medals, to give greater contrast with the polished surface of the field.
 

 
G
Gold Precious metal atomic symbol and numismatic abbreviation Au, from the Latin Aurum, used as a coinage medium from the seventh century BC until the present day. The purity of gold is reckoned in carats or a decimal system. i.e.  22 carat or .916 fine. Medieval coins were 23.5 carat or .995 fine, and some modern bullion coins are virtually pure gold, denoted by the inscription '.999'.
 

 
H
Hub Heavy circular piece of steel on which the die for a coin or medal is engraved. The process of cutting the die and transferring the master die, by means of intermediary punches, to the die from which the coins will be struck, is known as hubbing. Soft steel is used in the preliminary process, and after the design has been transferred, the hub is hardened by chemical action.

 

 
I
Incuse Opposite of relief, the part of a coin's design that is pressed into the surface.
Ingot Piece of precious metal usually cast in a mould, and stamped with the weight and fineness. though mainly used as a convenient method of storing bullion, ingots have been used as currency in many countries, notably Russia and Japan.
Iron Metal, chemical symbol Fe (from Latin 'Ferrum'), used as a primitive form of currency from classical times onwards.
 

 
L
Legal tender Coins or paper money which are declared by law to be current money and which tradesmen and shopkeepers are obliged to accept in payment for goods or services.
Legend The inscription on a coin or medal.
Lustre The sheen or bloom on the surface of an uncirculated coin resulting from the centrifugal flow of metal caused by striking.
 

 
M
Matrix Secondary die for a coin or medal, produced from the master die by means of an intermediate punch. In this way dies can be duplicated from the original cut on the reducing machine.
Medal A piece of metal bearing devices and legends commemorating an event or person, or given as an award. Military medals date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but were not generally awarded to all ranks until the nineteenth century. Commemorative medals can trace their origin back to Roman times, but in their present form they date from the Italian Renaissance when there was a fashion for large diameter cast portrait medals.
Medallion Synonym for medal, but usually confined to those with a diameter of 50mm or more.
Milling Process denoting the mechanical production of coins, as opposed to the handmade technique implied in hammering. It alludes to the use of watermills to drive the machinery of the screw presses and blank rollers developed in the sixteenth century. As the even thickness and diameter of milled coins permitted a security edge, the term milling is popularly, though erroneously, used as a synonym for graining or reeding.
Mint The place in which coins and medals are produced. Mint condition is a term sometimes used to denote pieces in an uncirculated state.
Mint set A set of coins or medals in the package or case issued by the mint. See also year set.
Mintage The quantity of coins produced.
Mintmark A device appearing on a coin to denote the place of minting.
Mirror Finish The highly polished surface of proof coins.
 

 
N
Nickel Metallic element, chemical symbol Ni, a hard white metal relatively resistant to tarnish, and extensively used as a cheap substitute for silver.
Numismatics The study of coins, medals and other related fields, a term derived from the Latin numisma and Greek nomisma (money).
 

 
O
Obsolete A coin design or type that is no longer produced.
Obverse The 'heads' side of a coin or medal, generally bearing the effigy of the head of state or an allegorical figure.
Off Metal Term denoting a piece struck in a metal other than the officially authorised or issued alloy. This originally applied to patterns which were often struck in lead or copper instead of gold and silver as trial pieces or to test the dies; but in recent years it has applied to collectors' versions, eg, proofs in platinum, gold or silver of coins normally issued in bronze or cupro-nickel.
Overdate One or more digits in a date altered by superimposing another figure. Alterations of this kind, by means of small hand punches, were made to dated dies so that they could be used in years other than that of the original manufacture. Coins with overdates invariably show traces of the original digit.
Overstrike Coin, token or medal produced by using a previously struck pieces as a flan.
 

 
P
Patina Oxidation forming on the surface of metallic objects. So far as coins and medals are concerned this applies mainly to silver, brass, bronze and copper pieces which may acquire oxidation from the atmosphere, or spectacular patination from salts in the ground in which they have been buried.
Pattern An experimental or trial piece, generally of a new design or metal.
Planchet French term used as an alternative for blank or flan.
Plaster Cast taken from the original model for a coin or medal sculpted by an artist, and used in modern reducing machines in the manufacture of the master die.
Plated Coins Coins stuck in base metal but given a wash of silver or some other precious metal. This expedient was adopted in inflationary times, from the Roman republic (91 BC) until the Tudor period.
Platinum The noblest of all precious metals, platinum has a higher specific gravity than gold and a harder brighter surface than silver.
Proof Originally a trial strike testing the dies,but now denoting a special collectors' version struck with dies that have been specially polished on flans with a mirror finish. Presses operating at a very slow speed, or multi-striking processes, are also used.
Proof set A complete set of proof coins of each denomination made in a year.
 

 
R
Reducing Machinery Equipment designed on the pantographic principle for transferring the image from a plaster to a hub and reducing it to the size of the actual coin or medal. The image is transferred by means of a stylus operating rather like a gramophone needle, but working from the centre to the outer edge.
Reeding Security edging on coins, consisting of close vertical ridges.
Re-issue A coin or note issued again after an extended lapse of time.
Relief Raised parts of the obverse and reverse of coins and medals, the opposite of incuse.
Restrike Coin, medal or token produced from dies subsequent to the original use. Usually restrikes are made long after the original and can often be identified bv marks caused by damage, pitting or corrosion of the dies after they were taken out of service.
Reverse The side of a coin or medal regarded as of lesser importance; in colloquial parlance, the 'tails' side.
Rim The raised edge on both sides of a coin (created by the upsetting mill) that helps protect the coin's design from wear.
 

 
S
Sandwich Coin blank consisting of thin outer layers in one alloy bonded to a core in another.
Series Term applied to sets of medals of a thematic character.
Silver Precious metal, chemical symbol Ag, numismatic abbreviation Ar, from Latin Argentum.
Specimen Generally used to denote a single piece but more specifically applying to a coin in a special finish, less than proof in quality but superior to the general circulating version. It also denotes paper notes intended for circulation between banks or for press publicity and distinguished from the generally issued version by zero serial numbers punch holes or a security endorsement.
Steel Refined and tempered from iron, and used in chromed or stainless versions as a coinage metal in the twentieth century.
Strike The process of stamping a coin blank with a design.  The strength of the imprint - full, average, or weak - affects the value of rare coins.
Stone Money Primitive currency in the form of large stone discs used in West Africa in the pre-colonial period and in the Pacific island of Yap (Caroline Islands, now Micronesia) as recently as 1940.
 

 
T
Tin Metallic element, chemical symbol St (from Latin Stannum). Because of its unstable nature and tendency to oxidise badly when exposed to the atmosphere, it is unsatisfactory as a coinage metal.
Token Any piece of money whose nominal value is greater than its intrinsic value is, strictly speaking, a token or promise.
Tombac Type of brass alloy with a high copper content, used in coinage requiring a rich golden colour.
Type Principal motif on a coin or medal, enabling numismatists to identify the issue.
Type set A set of coins comprising one of each coin in a particular series, regardless of the actual date of issue.
 

 
U
Uncirculated Term used in grading coins to denote specimens in perfect condition, with original mint lustre. In recent years the term 'Brilliant Uncirculated' has been adopted (abbreviated as B.Unc. or BU).
Uniface Coin, medal or token with a device on one side only.
 

 
V
VF Abbreviation for Very Fine, used to describe the state of a coin or medal.
VG Abbreviation for Very Good.
 

 
W
White Gold Alternative term for electrum.
Wooden Coin Thin pieces of wood used as tokens are known from the nineteenth and twelfth centuries in many parts of China and Africa.
 

 
Y
Year Set A set of coins issued annually by a mint. It often contains specimens which were not generally released for circulation in that year.
 

 
Z
Zinc Metallic element, chemical symbol Zn, widely used, with copper, as a constituent of brass, although it was not isolated until the eighteenth century. Alloyed with copper to form tombac.