Coin Acronyms

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Acronym	Term
3CN	U.S. Three Cent Nickel produced from 1865 to 1889.
ABT	About.
ACG	ACcu-Grade. Grading service. Controversial at present, because the assigned grades seem to be inflated relative to standard services like PCGS and NGC.
AG	About Good. Grade.
AGW	Actual Gold Weight
ANA	American Numismatic Association. Collector and dealer organization.
ANACS	(originally) American Numismatic Association Certification Service. Grading service. It has since been sold to a company independent of the ANA.
ASE	American Silver Eagle. A one ounce silver bullion coin, issued 1986-date.
ASW	Actual Silver Weight
AT	Artificial Toning.
AU	About Uncirculated. Grade.
B# (B1-B10)	Browning number (1925). Die variety - Bust Quarters, 1796-1838.
B# (B1-B23)	Bolender number (1950, 1998). Die variety - Silver Dollars, 1794-1803.
BB# (BB1-BBn)	Bowers and Borckardt number (1993). Die variety - Silver Dollars, 1794-1804 and later.
BG# (BG101-BG1313)	Breen and Gillio number (1983). Die variety - California private gold, 1852-1882.
BIN	Buy It Now. eBay (www.ebay.com) phrase.
BN	Brown. Color grade for uncirculated copper coins (BN, RB, or RD).
BU	Brilliant Uncirculated. Vague Grade.
BV	Bullion Value. The value of the coin is closely related to its metallic content (usually silver or gold).
C#	Cohen number (1982) for U.S Half Cents. or Craig number for world coins
CMM# (CMM1-CMM13?)	Cohen, Munson, Munde number (1971). Die variety - Half Cents, 1793-1857.
COA	Certificate of Authenticity.
CSDG	California Small Denomination Gold.
DC (DCAM)	Deep Cameo. High grade proof.
DDO	Doubled Die Obverse. Type of die variety.
DDR	Doubled Die Reverse. Type of die variety.
DMPL	Deep Mirror Proof Like. Business strike, with deep mirrored planchet.
EAC	Early American Coppers, Inc. Collector and dealer organization.
EF (XF)	Extra-Fine Grade.
F	Fine Grade.
F.A.O.	The Food and Agriculture Organization Coins were issued by member countries where a % of coin profits were given to the F.A.O.
FB	Full Bands.
FBL	Full Bell Lines.
FE	Flying Eagle (cent).
FH	Full Head.
FR#	Robert Friedberg's numbering for world gold coins and British issues.
FS# (FS1-FS?)	Fivaz and Stanton number (19xx). Die variety - many series.
FS	Full Steps.
FSB	Full Split Bands.
G	Good.
ICGS	Independent Coin Grading Service. Grading service.
IHC	Indian Head Cent. US cent coin.
J# (J1-J1778?)	Judd number (1959-77). Pattern or experimental coin.
JR# (JR1-JR13?)	John Reich number (Davis, et al, 1984). Die variety - Bust Dimes, 1794-1837.
KM# (KM1-KM?)	Krause and Mishler number. From Standard Catalog of World Coins.
LM# (LM1-LM18)	Logan-McCloskey number (1998). Die variety - Bust Half Dimes, 1792-1837.
MM	Mint Mark
MS	Mint State. (Uncirculated, business strike). Grade.
N# (N1-N17?)	Newcomb number (1944). Die variety - Large Cents, 1816-1868.
N# (N1-N105?)	Newman number (1952). Die variety - Fugio Cents, 1787.
NGC	Numismatic Guarantee Corporation. Grading service.
NCLT	Non-Circulating Legal Tender
OGP	Original Government Packaging.
OMM	Over MintMark. Two different mintmarks involved. (versus RPM, which is the same mintmark punched more than once).
OMS	Off-Metal Strike
P#	Major Fred Pridmore's numbering for British colonial coinage.
PCGS	Professional Coin Grading Service. Grading service.
PCI	Photo-certified Coin Institute. Grading service.
PL	Proof Like. Business strike, with mirrored planchet.
PNG	Professional Numismatists Guild. Dealer organization.
PQ	Premium Quality. Sometimes part of the sealed slab grade, such as a MS64 PQ (not quite good enough for MS65). Often it is just a hype adjective like "Choice" or "Select".
PVC	Poly Vinyl Chloride. An ingredient of soft plastic "flip" coin holders which will damage coins over time.
R# (R1-R8)	Rarity scale. R1 most common; R8 least common.
RB	Red-Brown. Color grade for uncirculated copper coins (BN, RB, or RD).
RD	Red. Color grade for uncirculated copper coins (BN, RB, or RD).
RIC	Roman Imperial Coinage.
RNS	Royal Numismatic Society. Collector and dealer organization.
RPC	Roman Provincial Coinage.
RPD	RePunched Date. Type of die variety.
RPM	RePunched Mintmark. Type of die variety.
RSC	Roman Silver Coinage.
S# (S1-S295?)	Sheldon number (1949). Die variety - Large Cents, 1793-1814.
S# (S1-S9?)	Snow number (1992). Die variety - Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents, 1856-1909.
SBA	Susan B. Anthony (dollar). US coin, 1979-1981,1999.
SEGS	Sovereign Entities Grading Service. Grading service.
SLQ	Standing Liberty Quarter. US coin, 1916-1930.
SMS	Special Mint Set
SP	Specimen. Better than business strike, but not quite a proof.
SQ	Statehood Quarters.
TPG	Third Party Grading
UC (UCAM)	Ultra Cameo. High grade proof.
UNC	Uncirculated. Grade.
VG	Very Good.Grade.
V# (V1-V10?)	Valentine number (1975). Die variety - Half Dimes, 1794-1873.
VAM# (VAM1-VAM230?)	Van Allen and Mallis number (1976). Die variety - Morgan Dollars, 1878-1921.
WL	Walking Liberty (half dollar). US coin, 1916-1947.
XF (EF)	Extra-Fine Grade.
Y#	R.S. Yeoman numbering for world coins.
YN	Young numismatic

^Sources:

^{Yeoman & Bressett. Red Book| A Guide Book of United States Coins 2008. Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing, LLC 2007
Cummins, Clint. www.stanford.edu/~clint/coinacro.htm, 7/15/2003
Harper, David. 2004 North American Coins & Prices. 13th edition. Iola, WI: Krause Publications 2003}