Challenge yourself with a quiz about minting coins – how much do you know about how we make the world’s coins?!
Royal Canadian Mint – Coin Finishes
Royal Australian Mint – Year of the Rat
Here are some of the more common terms used when talking about coins:
Alloy | A mixture of more than one metal. |
Blank | A piece of coin-shaped metal that is stamped and made into a coin. |
Bullion coin | Made for investment purposes, bullion coins have a high precious metal content and are traded at the daily price for that metal. Their face value is less than the value of the precious metal they contain.
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Burnishing | A form of surface preparation on proof or uncirculated blanks, using steel balls and detergent to remove any unwanted watermarks from the surface of the blank. |
Circulating coin | A coin that has been issued by a bank. |
Coin | Usually a piece of metal, marked with a device, issued by a government authority and intended to be used as money. |
Denomination | The stated face value of the coin. |
Die | A hardened metal tool, the face of which carries an engraved design that is to be stamped onto a blank. |
Effigy | A sculpted image of a person, usually a monarch, that appears on the obverse of a coin. |
Frosting | An effect in which parts of a coin are slightly dulled (using sandblasting techniques) to provide a contrast to the shinier parts of metal. |
Grade | A carefully constructed series of guidelines to determine the condition and therefore the rarity and value of a coin. |
Mint mark | A letter or symbol, indicating the mint of origin. |
Mule | A coin, token or medal whose obverse design is not matched with its reverse. |
Numismatics | The science, study or collecting of coins or similar objects. |
Nominal value | |
Numismatist | A collector or knowledgeable person in the field of numismatics. |
Obverse | The ‘heads’ side of a coin, usually carrying the effigy of the ruling monarch. |
Pickling | A process in which proof blanks are cleaned in acid to remove oil, directional rolling lines and dirt from their surface. |
Plaster | A model made during the design process, approximately four times larger than the actual size of the final coin or medal. |
Proof coin | A carefully struck coin using special dies, with frosted images on a mirror-like background. Proof is a method of manufacture, not a condition or grade. |
Reverse | The ‘tails’ side of a coin, carrying a design to distinguish one coin from another. |
Rim | A raised area of metal around the edge of a coin. It is intended to protect the rest of the coin from wear. |
Uncirculated coin | A coin which has not been distributed or used as currency. |
Uniface | A coin, medal or token which has only been struck on one side. |
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