Bullion Data Bullion Dictionary – Glossary of Frequently Used Bullion Terminology

The bullion glossary below has been put together in order to explain some of the most commonly used terms in the precious metals market.

Just like any specialized industry there are several terms which may not appear in your usual dictionary, or that take on a new meaning. This guide will be useful to answer some of your “What is an?”, “How many?” and “How do I?” questions.

Hopefully this phrase will make sense by the time you reach the bottom of this page: “I need to find an XRF to test 20 one troy ounce Pandas I traded for ASE’s at a market before I submit them to NGC for grading. If they come back as 70’s I will be able to flip for some quick fiat.”

The Bullion Data Bullion Dictionary

A

ASE – Abbreviation for the American Silver Eagle Series of silver bullion coins.

B

Bar – Often rectangle in shape and range in size most commonly from 1g to 10kg. This is a popular form for holding physical metal as bars take up less storage space than coins, as they can be stacked. Bars in larger sizes also have smaller production costs, resulting in lower price premiums. The most common precious metals used in bars and gold bars and silver bars. Consider reading our article How To Buy Gold Bars if the thought of buying gold bars scares you.

Bullion – A coin, round or bar which has a high percentage of pure precious metal. This may include precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium or copper. Prices are usually expected to be tied heavily to current spot prices, as the value is in the metal content, rather than the numismatic (collector) value due bullion mintage rarity.

C

Coin – Metal product which is legal tender with a face value. The face value does not provide an indication of the value in pure metal. For example a 1 ounce coin such as the American Silver Eagle bullion coin has a value of $1US, yet has a silver content worth considerably more. Mints producing coins are granted government approval to produce a certain number of coins, as they are adding to the currency of the country so these volumes must be carefully measured.

Conserved / Conservation – A process completed by grading companies such as NGC, or their partner companies, to restore the condition of a coin. This process will often help to improve the grading and may be able to remove dullness or milk spots from the surface of a coin.

Currency – The legal tender of a given country. For the purposes of this website this is relating only to legal tender coins with a face value.

E

ETF – Abbreviation for "Exchange Traded Fund". Similar to purchasing shares in a silver company, you own part of a paper position in a company or project, rather than any physical metal such as a silver coin or gold bar. See “Physical”.

F

Fiat – Name given to legal tender by the precious metal community. For example, an advertisement in the United States of America selling an American Silver Eagle for “fiat”, means that they require payment in United States Dollars ($USD), rather than payment in precious metals or any other form of trade.

G

Gilded – Coins or rounds with a thin gold layer added to improve the aesthetics of usually silver numismatic items.

Gold Spot – The spot price of gold. See “Spot Price”. For current gold spot prices refer to this section. Check on the Gold Spot Price Today to see the latest values.

Grading / Graded – A coin or round which has been assessed by a grading company to determine authenticity as well as the condition of the item. Bullion coin/round grading usually runs on a number scale, with “70” being the highest grade, indicating that the item is of perfect condition. Coins which have high grades (particularly 69 and 70 for common coins) will sell for a premium above ungraded coins, as many rarer coin series will have few, if any coins in these high grades. Graded coins should be placed in a tamperproof holder by the grading company to prevent the coin being swapped. Grading will only improve the value of a coin if it has been graded by a well known grading company, the two largest grading companies being PCGS and NGC. Also see “Conserved / Conservation”.

J

Junk – Any precious metal product with a value not above melt value. This may include silverware and poor condition jewellery.

M

Melt / Melt Value – The current value of any silver product, taking into account an estimate of the costs involved in melting the items down into a product suitable for investment form. Often used for determining the value of silverware or other non-bullion items. See also “Scrap”.

Milk spots – White cloudy marks appearing on the surface of a bullion coin as a result of part of the minting process. Although this does not reduce the pure metal value of the coin, it is not aesthetically pleasing and will reduce the sale price of a premium coin. These marks can sometimes be removed through the conservation process. The most common coins with milk spots include some silver bullions coins from the Royal Canadian Mint and the Austrian Mint.

Mintage / Mintage Limit - Mintage refers to the number of coins which were produced. A mintage limit indicates the maximum number of coins that will possibly be produced. A mintage limit may be imposed by the mint in order to increase rarity of their series.

N

NCS – The coin conservation partner of the NGC coin grading company. See “NGC”, “Grading” and “Conserved”.

NGC – A coin grading company. See "Grading”.

Numismatic – The “collector” value, or premium, added to a product outside of the value of the pure metal content of an item. For example, if a very rare one ounce coin is worth $10,000 when spot price is $30 per ounce, this would be classed as a numismatic coin. If the spot price drops to $5 per ounce, you would not expect the value of this coin to also drop.

Numismatist – An expert or collector of coins and other currency, such as bank notes.

O

Ounce Troy – See “Troy Ounce”.

P

Palladium Spot – The spot price of palladium. See “Spot Price”. For current palladium spot prices refer to this section. Check on the Palladium Spot Price Today to see the latest values.

Panda – Most commonly used as an abbreviation for the Bank of China Chinese Panda Series of coins.

PCGS – A coin grading company. See “Grading”.

Physical / Physical Metal / Physical Position – Coins, bars, rounds or any other form of precious metal that you can touch. For example, owning a gold bar is owning physical, whereas owning shares in a gold ETF is not.

Platinum Spot – The spot price of platinum. See “Spot Price”. For current platinum spot prices refer to this section. Check on the Platinum Spot Price Today to see the latest values.

Pre-Decimal – Old coin currency which is no longer circulating as legal tender. Many of these coins have a high silver content. This can be a low cost method of acquiring a position in silver.

Precious Metal – A metal with a somewhat limited supply, which for the purpose of this website is then made into a product available for investment or collector purposes. Common precious metals used for investment purposes include gold, silver, platinum, palladium and copper.

Premium / Premium Coin / Premium Round – The difference between “Spot” and the sale price of an item. For example, if a low mintage one ounce coin is selling for $100 and the current spot price is $30 per ounce, this would be a $70 premium. An example of a premium coin would be the Canadian Wildlife Series or Australian Lunar Silver Series of silver bullion coins, which have mintage limits and attract a premium over silver spot price.

Proof – Proof coins are usually of a very high quality finish, often highly polished and mirrored. This type of product sells usually to collectors, rather than investors, as there is expected to be a high premium attached the price, rather than the price being heavily tied to a spot price. These are usually classed as numismatic items.

R

Round – Metal product which will look like a coin, however is not legal tender. These are often produced by smaller mints who do not have the authority to produce coins. As these are not legal tender they often sell for a slightly lower premium to coins.

S

Scrap – See “Junk”.

Silver Spot – The spot price of silver. See “Spot Price”. For current silver spot prices refer to this section. Check on the Silver Spot Price Today to see the latest values.

Slab / Slabbed – A coin which is in a holder as the result of the grading process. See “Grading / Graded”.

Specific Gravity Test - The specific gravity test is used to determine the metal density of an item in order to determine if it contains the claimed precious metal, or if is simply a common metal such as nickel that has silver or gold plated. The test is completed by weighing the metal in the air, as well as weighing the item while suspended in water. A calculation is then completed to determine if the density matches that of the claimed precious metal. See “XRF Machine” for an alternative simple, yet much more costly, method of finding fakes.

Spot Price – The current value of the pure precious metal. These values are heavily tied to the price of physical metal, for example a silver bullion coin, however a $2 drop in spot price will not be reflected with a $2 drop in coin prices due to premiums and manufacturing costs associated with producing physical metal. Link to the values page. Check on the Spot Price Today to see the latest values.

Sterling Silver – Items that are 92.5% pure silver. Sterling silver is frequently used when making jewellery and other silverware, including cutlery. Many of these items are antiques, as the prices of silver tended to be much lower at the times when these were produced.

T

Troy Ounce – The most common weight measurement used for the majority of bullion products, although measurements in kilograms is also common for large bars and coins. One Troy Ounce weighs 31.1 grams.

Some of the common pure metal weights for bullion items where Troy Ounces is used:

• 1/20 ounce – Usually gold, platinum and palladium only.
• 1/10 ounce – Usually gold, platinum and palladium only.
• 1/4 ounce – Usually gold, platinum and palladium only.
• 1/2 ounce
• 1 ounce
• 2 ounces
• 5 ounces
• 10 ounces
• 20 ounces
• 100 ounces

X

XRF Machine / XRF Scanner / XRF Analyzer – XRF is an abbreviation for X-Ray Fluorescence. An XRF machine is a scanner used to determine all of the elements that are contained within an item. Although much easier than the “Specific Gravity Test”, these machines can cost in excess of $20,000 so are often out of the reach of individual collectors and are owned only by precious metal dealers. There are both desktop and handheld portable versions of these scanners available.