Coin Anatomy Photo Guide and Terms to Describe Coins

Knowing how to properly describe coins to other collectors and coin dealers is much easier after reviewing the Anatomy of Silver Coins photo guide page. With the key terms in hand, a beginner collector can engage others who have collected for years and not be misunderstood or risk embarrassment.

Fortunately, there are relatively few terms to learn. And using the two most often used words to describe a coin — obverse and reverse — is a good place to start, and also examples of the sometime subtle language numismatists (those who collect and study coins) will use.

Obverse is the "heads" side of a coin while the reverse is the "tails" side.

To learn more coin terms, a guide created on and shared by Coin Collecting News (CoinCollectingNews.org) that describes the various parts of a coin is extremely useful.

The guide along with coin descriptions may be found on the Silver Coins Today Resource page at:

Anatomy of Silver Coins

Learning these key terms will make it easier to communicate with others as well as read numismatic literature.