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Numismatic, Rare, Mint: What do those words mean in coin collecting?
If you are someone who is just getting started when it comes to coin collecting, you'll find that there are plenty of words flying around that might leave you a little bit confused. What is considered a rare coin, and what does it mean when a coin is declared to be mint? What does the term numismatic have to do with anything and where do you stand when it comes to what kind of coin collector you are? The truth of the matter is that even if you are familiar with the world of coin collecting, some of these terms might need to be clarified for you.
In the first place, there is no universally registered meaning for the word rare. All that it means is that it is a coin or specimen that you don't see very often, and a rare coin can be be something that has a value of a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. Some collectors will try to delineate this by saying that some coins are very rare, or extremely rare, but that saying is not very precise.
Mint can casually be the term that is used to denote coins that are in pristine condition, while mint luster means refers to the sheen of a coin that has been not been circulated; mint luster usually refers to a slightly frosty appearance. A mint mark is a letter or a symbol that tells you where the coin was from, while a mint set is an official set of uncirculated coins that covers each coin struck in a certain year.
Numismatic is a term that refers to the science, study or collection of coins, that you might find that people who study things as different as medals, orders, decorations and paper money are also covered under this term. A numismatist is someone who is knowledgeable in this field. To be a numismatist, you'll find that you can simply be a collector who knows a great deal about their passion, or you might be a coin dealer, a person who is often referred to as a professional numismatist