Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 1113396 search inquires.

Selected title: Rarity Scale
Explanation: A convention for designating the rarity of a coin, such as Sheldon's system (with values such as R1 for common pieces and R6 for extremely rare specimens) and the Universal Rarity Scale invented by Alan Herbert (with designations such as URS3). The often used Sheldon scale is:
  • R8 = 1-3 known (estimated), 'Unique or Nearly Unique'
  • R7 = 4-12 known, 'Extremely Rare'
  • R6 = 13-30 known, 'Very Rare'
  • R5 = 31-75 known, 'Rare'
  • R4 = 76-200 known, 'Very Scarce'
  • R3 = 201-500 known, 'Scarce'
  • R2 = 501-1250 known, 'Uncommon'
  • R1 = over 1251 known, 'Common'

Most popular coin titles

DefinitionSearchesPercentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70) 55984  13.27%
Silver Clad 32889  7.79%
Coin Silver 24942  5.91%
Slabbed Coins 23885  5.66%
BN 23439  5.55%
Encapsulated Coin 22382  5.30%
RB 21886  5.19%
PF (PF60, PF70) 18865  4.47%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 18831  4.46%
Reeded Edge 17690  4.19%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 17500  4.15%
Obverse or Face side 16949  4.02%
PR (PR60, PR70) 16837  3.99%
Rarity 16738  3.97%
PQ 16428  3.89%
MS (MS60-MS70) 16123  3.82%
Incuse 15455  3.66%
Coin drop 15285  3.62%
High Relief 15076  3.57%
Reverse Cameo 14814  3.51%