Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 1037809 search inquires.

Selected title: Chop Mark

Explanation: Oriental marks or characters stamped into previously made coins, often found on silver trade dollars and other precious metal coins. When coins were used for trading purposes, an oriental assayer would test a piece of the coin for purity. If it met his approval he would stamp his mark into the coin indicating to others it was pure and accurate weight. Today some collectors specialize in 'Chop marked' coins. However, for many coins the chop marks may hurt the value

Most popular coin titles

Definition	Searches	Percentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70)	55279	13.59%
Silver Clad	32216	7.92%
Coin Silver	24309	5.98%
Slabbed Coins	23231	5.71%
BN	22799	5.61%
Encapsulated Coin	21823	5.37%
RB	21268	5.23%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM)	18275	4.49%
PF (PF60, PF70)	18001	4.43%
Reeded Edge	17057	4.19%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM)	16918	4.16%
PR (PR60, PR70)	15990	3.93%
Rarity	15971	3.93%
PQ	15814	3.89%
MS (MS60-MS70)	15566	3.83%
Incuse	14878	3.66%
Coin drop	14608	3.59%
High Relief	14494	3.56%
Reverse Cameo	14179	3.49%
Obverse or Face side	13919	3.42%