Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 989538 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) 54862  13.74%
Silver Clad 31866  7.98%
Coin Silver 23944  6.00%
Slabbed Coins 22846  5.72%
BN 22400  5.61%
Encapsulated Coin 21510  5.39%
RB 20802  5.21%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 17952  4.50%
PF (PF60, PF70) 17635  4.42%
Reeded Edge 16702  4.18%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 16627  4.17%
PQ 15476  3.88%
Rarity 15466  3.87%
PR (PR60, PR70) 15356  3.85%
MS (MS60-MS70) 15251  3.82%
Incuse 14524  3.64%
Coin drop 14243  3.57%
High Relief 14168  3.55%
Reverse Cameo 13790  3.45%
Obverse or Face side 13479  3.38%