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Coin Collecting Glossary

The who's who and what's what of coin collecting.

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Bit

Slang for a Spanish-American 1 real coin. Until the late 1850s, Spanish-American coins were legal tender in the United States. A one bit coin was valued at 12½¢. Hence, the term two-bits referring to a U.S. quarter dollar.

Blank

A metal disk that has been punched from a metal strip but has not gone through the upsetting mill to form raised rims. Once a blank goes through the upsetting mill, it becomes a planchet.
See also - - Upsetting Mill, Planchet

Bank Note Reporter

After the failed Continental Currency of the 1770s and before federal bills were reintroduced in 1861, thousands of banks issued their own paper money. Each issue was backed by the institution that issued it and tended to trade at a discount to face value. In addition, counterfeit notes were all too common. To help merchants with these problems, publications known as Bank Note Reporters began circulating. These typically contained tables arranged by state and bank that gave the current discount rate of the note. They also described known counterfeit notes to help merchants avoid accepting bad notes.

Broadstrike

This is a type of error that occurs when collar fails during the striking of a coin. The collar does not retain the flow of metal during striking resulting in a larger than normal diameter for the coin.

Brockage

This is a type of error that occurs when a struck coin gets caught between the die and another coin being struck. The result is a coin with a mirror incuse image of the already struck coin.

Butternut Hoard

A hoard of approximately 4,600 large cents that was assembled in the mid-1800s and sold in the mid-1990s to Col. Steven Ellsworth in Virginia. The hoard offered a great opportunity for numismatists to study large cents. Better dates such as the 1793 or 1804 were noticably absent from the hoard. The hoard was named for Col. Ellsworth's company The Butternut Company in Virginia. Col. Ellsworth, a Civil War battlefield tour guide and coin dealer, named his company The Butternut Company after the color of well worn Confederate uniforms and the term used to describe the desirable color of an early American copper coin.