Coin Acronyms

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

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