ABBREVIATIONS, CONDITIONS/GRADING and RARITY LEGEND

STATE of PRESERVATION
For examples view links below

Equivalent

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FS

Coin with special background treatment. For special collectors' mint sets.

Fondo Specchio

FB Flan Bruni

Prf
Proof

PP
PoliertePlatte

Prueba

FdC

No visible signs of wear or handling. Perfect and complete.

Fior di Conio

FdC Fleur de Coin

Unc
Uncirculated Mint State

Stgl
Stempelglanz

SC/FdC
Flor de Cuño

Spl

About 90-95% of original detail visible. Low circulation traces. No bruises on the edge (or very, very little).

Splendido

Sup Superbe

EF, XF
Extremely Fine

Vorz
Vorzüglich

EBC
Extra Bien Conserv.

BB

About 75% of original detail visible. Circulation traces are visible but not very heavy. You can see little bruises on the edge.

Bellissimo

TTB Très très beau

VF
Very Fine

SS
Sehr schön

MBC
Muy Bien Cons.da

MB

About 40-50% of original detail visible. Circulation traces are very heavy. Bruises on the edge, gashes, ...

Molto Bello

TB
Très beau

F
Fine

S
Schön

BC
Bien Cons.

B

Coin in very low conditions, with about 25% of original detail visible. Very heavy wear on all of the coin. Maybe the coin has corrosion, a perforation, fractures, etc. . There's only a silhouette of the designs

Bello

B Beau

VG
VeryGood

SGE
Sehr Gut Erhalten

RC Regular. Conservada

D

Silhouette of a large design. Not very easy to classify the coin.

Discreto

TBC Très Bien Conservé

G Good

GE
Gering erhalten

MC

This grading scale (in italian) was born to value classic and medieval coins, technically not perfect how the modern or decimal coinage. The correspondance is not total, because U.K./U.S.A.-scale is a conservation scale, Italian scale is a quality scale. For that reason UNC and FdC are theoretically different.

Coins worth (and price) is also determined ...:

- Characteristics to increase coins worth: original patina (better if whole and uniform, regular. See also glossary), original brilliant background, coining in centre (classic and medieval), appearance "freshness", artistic worth and historical importance.

- Characteristics to decrease coins worth: no original patina, or artificial patina, bruises on the edge, gashes, fractures, perforations, metal's corrosion, cleaning/polishing, coining defects or soft strike/worn die, filled die, clipping, off center (small degrees, poor centering...), hooks, ex-jewelry, double struck,... .

Other Abbreviations & symbols

m

Better than

G.Br. Big Bronze (for Roman coinage)

q

Almost

M.Br. Medium Bronze (for Roman coinage)

Sx

Left

P.Br. Little Bronze (for Roman coinage)

Dx

Right

( .... ) Text in brackets shows not present letters on coin

L.vi

Some little...

D/ Obverse

D

Diameter

R/ Reverse

ca.

About, approximately

mm Millimetres (width and height); 1mm = 0,039in.

//

Discontinuity on the legend: for example, a text on two lines

Metals - abbreviations

Ac Acmonital (steel alloy) It Italma (aluminum alloy)
Æ Bronze (classic coins) Mi / Mist Billon
Ag Silver NG "Nordic Gold"
Al Alumin(i)um Ni Nickel
Av Gold Pb Lead
Ba Bronzital (Bronze alloy) Sn Tin
Br Bronze Zn Zinc
Cu Copper    

Rarity Grading

U   Unique
RRRRR R5 Almost unique
RRRR R4 Of highest rarity
RRR R3 Extremely rare
RR R2 Very rare
R   Rare
NC   Not common
C   Common

 


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