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The Numismatic A-Z Glossary

Our handy A-Z glossary is the perfect resource for coin collectors looking to expand their knowledge. Coin collecting often comes with its own unique terminology, which can feel like learning a new language. To make it easier for you to dive in, we've created an easy-to-understand guide to essential collecting terms.

A

Alloy

A material created through a combination of two or more elements, of which one must be a metal. As far as numismatics is concerned, coins have been created using alloys of base metals, of precious metals, or of both.

Adjustment

The process where an overweight blank has metal removed by shaving or filing before being struck as a coin, so as to adhere to the predetermined regulated weight. Precious metal coins, in particular, were subject to adjustment, even into the early 20th century.

Adjustment Marks

Parallel scrapes or scratches on a coin created by the process of adjustment. Such marks are not considered an impairment to the coin.

Assay

The examination of precious metal or ore to determine purity, weight, quality, contaminants and the like. Up to the 20th century, this process was undertaken by mints to determine the quality of the metal it received, before becoming the responsibility of precious metal refineries.

B

Bag Marks

Minor marks and abrasions on the surface of Uncirculated coins caused by storage and transport
within mint bags.

Banker’s Marks

A material created through a combination of two or more elements, of which one must be a metal. As far as numismatics is concerned, coins have been created using alloys of base metals, of precious metals, or of both.

Banknote

A promissory note, issued by a bank or similar authority, and payable to the bearer on demand. In Australia, banknotes represent a circulating medium, issued in a variety of denominations, that is authorised by government.

Base Metal

A metal or alloy that is relatively common and has a low intrinsic value, such as copper or bronze, as opposed to high intrinsic value precious metals such as silver, gold and platinum.

Bimetal Coin

In the world of numismatics, a bimetal coin is a coin that comprises two separate metals (or alloys), united as one, as opposed to a coin struck from an alloy comprising two metals.

Blank

A coin blank is a piece of metal prepared to be struck as a coin, but lacking the rim. When a blank is put through an ‘upsetting mill’, where the edge is ‘upset’, or ‘rimmed’, it is now called a planchet and is ready to be struck as a coin.

Brockage

The creation of a brockage Error type begins when a coin that is correctly struck is not ejected from the chamber of the coin press. When the next coin blank is inserted, it is not struck by the coin die, but by the trapped coin! The correctly struck trapped coin carries a raised design, of course, so the second coin not only features a design that is mirror-image, but is also incuse! Interestingly, the term brockage was originally used to denote metal wasted by a mint in the manufacture of coinage.

C

Cast Coinage

An early method of mass production of coinage, particularly favoured in regions of Asia, where molten metal would be poured into a cast to set. The most famous cast currency is China’s ‘Cash’ coinage, issued from the 3rd millennium BC to the 20th century.

Coin

A coin is an object issued by a governing authority and authorised by law to circulate as legal tender to facilitate, for example, the exchange of goods and services. Although there are many variations since coins were introduced, believed to be during the 7th century BC, a coin is usually round in shape, usually crafted from metal, and stamped with designs and inscriptions.

Commemorative Coin

A coin issued to honour a specific place, event or person – issued either only as a collector coin, or issued for general circulation.

Counterfeit

An unauthorised, fraudulent imitation of an official legal tender coin or banknote, intended to circulate as genuine money. A practice that has existed for as long as coinage itself, counterfeiting is a very serious crime that was once punishable by death.

Counterstamp

A mark or stamp struck onto an existing coin. In times past, such a mark might indicate a new value, other than the face value of the coin, or the acceptability of a coin for weight and purity, or the acceptability of a coin for circulation purposes, despite its foreign origin – such as Britain’s counterstamping of Spanish 8 Reales coins during the currency of the late 18th century. Counterstamping could also be undertaken for advertising purposes, or for personal reasons. In modern times, mints such as the Royal Australian Mint counterstamp coins to be issued for collectors, rather than circulation.

D

Decimal Currency

Decimal currency refers to all Australian coins and banknotes issued from the 14th of February 1966, and the introduction of the decimal currency system – a system employing monetary units based on a scale of ten.

Denomination

The monetary value of a coin or banknote, otherwise known as face value – regarding coinage, the denomination is usually incorporated into the design or inscription, but this is not always the case.

Denticles

Small tooth-like or similar projecting points – in the world of coin production, denticles were often used against the rim of a coin, as with all coin types of the Australian 1910-64 Predecimal Series.

Die

A block of metal that, when carved with a design, is employed in the striking of a coin or medal, impressing the design onto a metal blank.

Image: Royal Australian Mint

Die Crack

A sometimes faint but readily apparent line on the face of a coin caused by a crack in the production die used to strike the coin.

Die Variety

A coin exhibiting a level of deviation from the standard design for the denomination, as a result of a problem with or variation to the dies used in production.

E

Effigy

The likeness of a human being, often a portrait, forming part of the design of a coin, medal, banknote or other.

Exergue

The space below the central design, usually on the reverse of a coin or a medal, often employed to host some key piece of information, such as the date of issue or the mint of origin. To exemplify, the date on St George & the Dragon gold sovereigns is found in the exergue on the reverse.

Error

Whether a coin, a banknote or a token, an Error type is a piece of currency that exhibits an obviously unintended fault. Traditionally, an Error type has been missed by the quality control at the relevant issuing authority, and escaped into circulation. Highly sought after and often extremely valuable, Errors types include incorrect planchets, blanks, brockages, off-centre strikes, double strikes, upset dies, to name but a few.

F

Fantasy Coin/Note

An unofficial, non-legal tender issue created in the form of a genuine legal tender currency issue. Often created for advertising, or for satirical purposes, such as the field of Funny Money, Fantasy issues are also issued as tributes, such as the King Charles III £0 Fantasy Note, or to exemplify how an unissued coin might have looked if it had indeed been issued – such as the range of King Edward VIII Fantasy coinage.

Flat Money

Any currency where the value is only established by virtue of the guarantee of the issuing authority, as enshrined in law, rather than a value based on the intrinsic worth of the material from which it is produced.

Field

The backdrop to the design of a coin or medal – essentially everything, other than lettering and numbering, that lies behind the central motif. A field may be enhanced with background texture, to enhance the overall visual effect, or may be completely clear.

G

Grade

The stated condition of a coin, banknote, medal or other collectable within the sphere of numismatics – crucial in determining the rarity and value of the object in question.

H

Hammered coinage

Coinage produced from the 1st millennium BC until the 17th–18th centuries, where a metal disc was placed between two dies, with the upper die then struck with a hammer to impart designs on either side of the new coin.

I

Incuse

Incuse, often known by the Italian term intaglio, is essentially ‘negative relief’. This means that the lettering and/or design is below the plane of the background field of a coin, medal, token or similar object, as opposed to ‘relief’, where the lettering and/or design is above the plane of the field.

L

Legend

The inscription found around the edge of a coin, detailing such things as the date, country of issue, the monarch/ruler and their official titles.

Legal Tender

A form of money, recognised in law within a particular jurisdiction, that must be accepted by a creditor if presented for the payment of debt, or to meet any financial obligation.

M

Master Die

A master die is a tool impressed with a negative image of a coin design. This is used in the production of a ‘working hob’, which therefore features a positive impression of the coin design. The working hob is then used to impress a negative impression of the design onto a production die, which is then used in the manufacture of coinage.

Milled Coinage

Coins produced using some sort of machine, rather than being struck by hand.

Milled Edge

Originally a security device, designed to discourage the ‘clipping’ of precious metal coins, a milled edge consists of alternating ridges and indentations. A ‘fully milled’ coin features milling around its entire circumference, with a coin distinguished by alternate milled and flat elements described as having an ‘interrupted milled edge’. Australia’s 20c coin is fully milled, for example, while both the $1 and $2 coins feature interrupted milled edges.

Mintmark

A tiny letter, or other symbol or mark, found upon the face of the coin, revealing at which mint the coin was struck. Australian-struck gold sovereigns, for example, carried the letters M (Melbourne), S (Sydney) or P (Perth).

Mint

An industrial institution that produces coinage, for circulation, for collectors, or both. A mint that produces coinage for circulation is either owned by a government or authorised by a government to produce official currency to be used as legal tender.

Mintage

The number of coins struck of a particular type or date.

Mint Roll

A Mint Roll is an officially packaged roll of freshly minted coins, in a fixed amount. The practice of packaging of coins in rolls – by hand – began in the 19th century, with coin wrapping machines used from the early 20th century. Mint Rolls were originally used for transporting and storing coins, but now also produced specifically for collectors.

Mule

A Mule is a coin that has been created through the accidental union of mismatched obverse and reverse dies. One of the most famous examples of the phenomenon in Australia is the King George V 1916 Halfpenny Mule. This immensely rare type was created with an Australian reverse, but an obverse intended only for India’s Quarter Anna coin! A more recent example is the 2000 $1/10c Mule, created due to the accidental combination of a $1 reverse die and a 10c obverse die.

N

Numismatics

A word derived from, ultimately, the Latin for coin, ‘nomisma’, numismatics is the science or study of any form of currency – including coins, banknotes, tokens, medals, objects of nature, or anything that has been used as an acceptable medium in the settlement of debts or the facilitation of the exchange of goods and services.

Notaphily

The study of the field of banknotes, along with various other forms of negotiable promissory notes. A person who collects banknotes or similar currency items is called a notaphilist.

O

Obverse

The front of a coin, upon which, in many cases, will be found a portrait of a reigning ruler or famous figure, as well as the key elements attesting to the legal tender status of the coin. This may include the country of issue, the date and the denomination.

Overdate

A coin Variety, created when one or more of the numerals in a date has been overpunched with another date – usually done to extend the life of a perfectly good but obsolete die, or to correct an error. Australia has very few Overdate types, with the most famous – the excessively rare 2921/22 Threepence – known by less than 900 examples.

Off-centre strike

A classic, highly sought after Error type, an off-centre strike occurs when a coin is struck out of the ‘retaining collar’ that is supposed to keep the planchet in alignment with the obverse and reverse dies.

P

Pattern

A piece created by an official issuing authority, struck using official dies, to be submitted for approval as an official coin type, to be produced in the future, or a piece struck to test new designs, alloys or formats.

Patina

A term deriving from the description of the incrusted, greenish hues of copper coins buried in the ground, patina describes the change in colour of the surface a coin due to a slow process of chemical reaction.

Philately

Philately is the study of postal history and the technical aspects of stamp production, with particular emphasis on the collection of postage stamps and other related material such as covers, postmarks, official revenue stamps and more.

Piedfort

Literally translating as ‘heavy foot’, but understood as ‘heavy weight’, Piedfort issues are usually twice the weight and often twice the thickness of the standard issue for the particular type. Pronounced ‘pee-ay-fore’, with a heritage dating back to 12th century France, Piedforts were often given as gifts to VIPs of one sort or another, or created for politically influential collectors. It is also thought that they were used as part of the approval process in the production of circulating coinage.

Planchet

A rimmed metal disc before being struck as a legal tender coin. A planchet is initially a rimless ‘blank’. The blank is put through an ‘upsetting mill’, where the edge is ‘upset’, and a rim is created. Thus, the rimless blank becomes a rimmed planchet, and it ready to be struck as a coin.

Predecimal Currency

Predecimal currency refers to the system of currency used in Australia from European Settlement in 1788 – based on the British monetary system – until the introduction of the decimal currency system in 1966.

Prefix

A letter – or series of letters, or a combination of letters and numbers – that precede the serial numbers on a banknote.

Privymark

Originally, a privymark was a symbol intentionally added to a coin design that referred to some element of the manufacture process of the coin. For example, a privymark could refer to the issuer, or the engraver. They were also used as a security device to thwart counterfeiters. In modern times, privymarks are used for collector coins, to celebrate a particular event or historic coin, such as the Perth Mint’s privymark coins from the 1990s to early 2000s, or to indicate a city, such as the Royal Australian Mint’s annual Mintmark/Privymark aluminium-bronze $1 coins.

Promissory note

A legal instrument by which one person guarantees in writing to pay another person or persons an agreed amount of money, as inscribed on the document, at some point in the future. The use of promissory notes possibly dates as far back as 2nd century BC, to Carthage in North Africa and the Han Dynasty in China.

Proof

A term used to describe the standard of strike used in the production of a Proof coin. Struck under tightly controlled conditions, using specially prepared dies, a Proof coin is usually defined by sharply detailed, delicately frosted designs, hosted by the most immaculate of mirror fields.

R

Relief

The three-dimensional lettering and/or design of a coin, medal, token or other similarly struck metallic object, raised above the level of the background field. Depending on the extent the design extends above the background field, a coin may be described as High Relief or Ultra High Relief, among other terms.

Reverse Proof

A standard of strike where, as opposed to a Proof strike, the fields are delicately frosted, and act as host to designs underpinned by a mirror finish.

Reverse

Known as the ‘tails’ side of a coin – as opposed to the obverse, the ‘heads’ side – the reverse usually carries a design and, in Australia and many other countries, the denomination.

Rim

Created to help protect the face of a coin from wear in circulation, as well as make coins stackable, the rim is a raised area of metal around the edge of a coin flan.

S

Security Thread

A metallic thread employed in the production of Australian paper banknotes as a security device to thwart counterfeiters. Initially in the centre of Australian notes, the thread was moved to the edge to increase the lifespan of notes in circulation. 

T

Trade Dollar

Silver coins created specifically to facilitate trade during the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly in the burgeoning markets of East Asia. Issued by
China, Japan and Britain, among others, all Trade Dollars were similar in weight and purity to the Spanish 8 Reales, which for hundreds of years had been the world’s most widely accepted trade currency.

Trade Token

An unofficial, usually low denomination ‘coin’, issued by businesses during times of currency shortage, that double as a means of facilitating day-to-day transactions and also as a form of advertising for the issuers. In Australia, the issue of Trade Tokens boomed during the early decades of the Gold Rush, and today form a very strong field of Australian numismatics.

Type

A numismatic classification for the design of a legal tender issue of a particular denomination, distinguishing it from other coins of the same denomination with a different design. The 1910-36 Shilling is the Coat of Arms type, for example, with the 1938-63 Shilling known as the Ram’s Head type.

U

Uncirculated

Uncirculated is a grading term, employed to describe the state of preservation of a coin that has not been issued into general circulation for public use, and exhibits no wear and tear naturally associated with being used in day-to-day transactions.

Uniface

A coin or medallic item featuring a design on one side only. Although non-legal tender, medallic issues are regularly uniface, the existence of uniface coins is more often attributable to the creation of trial pieces by a mint, or errors in production.

W

Watermark

A security device, designed to thwart counterfeiters, a watermark is an element of a banknote design that can only be seen when held up to the light – patterns, wording or, as regularly seen in Australia’s 1913-64 Predecimal Banknote Series, portraits.

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