Coin Terminology and Glossary

The Coin Collecting Dictionary includes 546 titles used widely in the coin collectors community, and has received over 913842 search inquires.

Selected title: Bit
Explanation: Slang used to indicate one eighth of a dollar. In early days of this country's history the Spanish Milled Dollar (pillar dollar or 8 reales) circulated. Due to a shortage of smaller coins these silver dollars were often cut into pieces shaped like slices of pizza. A small piece equal to one eighth of the dollar was called a 'piece of eight' or a 'bit'. The nursery rime 'two bits, four bits, 6 bits, a dollar' comes from this time in history. Example, two bits = two eighths or a quarter

Most popular coin titles

DefinitionSearchesPercentage
Specimen Proof (SP-70 or PF-70) 53962 14.09%
Silver Clad 31137 8.13%
Coin Silver 23203 6.06%
Slabbed Coins 22037 5.76%
BN 21518 5.62%
Encapsulated Coin 20847 5.44%
RB 19889 5.19%
Deep Cameo (DC or DCAM) 17217 4.50%
PF (PF60, PF70) 16802 4.39%
Reeded Edge 15936 4.16%
Ultra Cameo (UCAM) 15915 4.16%
PQ 14703 3.84%
MS (MS60-MS70) 14559 3.80%
PR (PR60, PR70) 14541 3.80%
Rarity 14453 3.77%
Incuse 13644 3.56%
Coin drop 13423 3.51%
High Relief 13423 3.51%
Reverse Cameo 12905 3.37%
Obverse or Face side 12710 3.32%