Glossary

A

About good: typically it is a very heavily worn coin with portion of lettering, date and legends worn smooth. Abbreviation is AG.

Ag: chemical abbreviation for silver.

Alloy: a mixture of two or more metals in one coin. Any gold or silver coin of less than .999 purity is alloy.

Altered date: a coin with the date changed after the coin was minted. This is the illegal practice which is often used to deceive someone.

American Eagles: gold, silver or platinum coins which are very popular in the investment coin market. American Eagles have been released by U.S. government since October 1986.

Arbitrage: simultaneously buying or selling coins or other products in different markets with the purpose to take advantage taking into consideration price difference.

Au: chemical abbreviation for gold.

B

Bid: the price offered by a dealer with the purpose to buy a coin.

BU (brilliant uncirculated): the coin grading term used to describe that a coin has no wear, has never been in circulation and is in new condition.

Bullion coin: an investment coin which market price depends on its precious metal content, rather than its face value.

Business strike: a coin minted for general use and circulation.

C

Canadian Maple Leafs: modern bullion coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.

Cartwheel (or cart wheel): slang for U.S. Silver Dollar.

Certified (certified coin): a coin determined to be genuine by a coin certification service. Often the coin is graded by a special coin grading service, such as PCGS, NGS, ANACS.

Circulated: a coin which has been used in ecommerce one time or often more.

Coin: a stamped with marks or inscriptions peace of metal issued by a government or a bank as money.

Coin of the realm: a legal tender coin minted for general circulation.

Coin World: one of the most popular weekly coin periodical, and the most influential coin collecting publication for U.S. collectors. Published by Amos Press, P.O. Box 150, Sidney, Ohio 45365.

Comex: one of the largest commodities futures exchanges located in New York City where gold and silver are bought and sold.

Correction: a decline in prices coming around as a result of a rise in a market.

D

Double Eagles: U.S. twenty dollar gold coins minted between 1850 and 1932. They contain .9675 ounce of gold and are available in two designs: the St. Gaudens (Walking Liberty) and the Liberty.

E

Eagles: modern gold or silver bullions produced by U.S. government.

F

Face value: the legal value of a coin stamped on its side.
Fineness (also fine): the purity of a precious metal as a component of a coin measured in 1,000 parts of an alloy. Example: the Canadian Maple Leaf is .999 fine, which means it is 99.9% pure.

G

Grade: a rating that indicates the condition of a coin. This is one of the main determining factors of the value. There are two main grading services in the USA: PCGS and NGS.

Grain: earliest measure of weight for gold. One troy ounce is equal to 480 grains.

Gram: the basic measure of weight for coins and other products from precious metals. One troy ounce is equal to 31.1035 grams.

H

Half Eagles: U.S. gold coins produced between 1795 and 1929 with the face value of five dollars.

I

Intrinsic value: the value of the coin’s precious metal component.

J

Junk silver: silver coins produced by U.S. government with no investment or numismatic value.

K

Karat: a measure of the purity used in indicating the fineness of gold. Pure gold is 24 karat.

Koala: Australian platinum coin, released since 1987. The fineness is 99.5 %.

L

Legend: the main inscription on a coin.

Luster: the brightness of the coin’s metal. It can vary depending on the different factors, such as wear, humidity, polishing of dies, etc.