Bullion: Precious metals in the form of coins, bars, or ingots that are officially recognized by international markets. In order for any coin, bar, or ingot to be officially recognized as bullion it must be 99.5% pure in the form of a bar and 99.9% pure in the form of a coin.

AGW: AGW stands for actual gold weight. It is a term used in the industry to determine how much gold is contained in a particular coin or bar. 

Troy Ounce: A troy ounce is the English standard unit of measurement that governs the weight of precious metals. Unlike an ordinary ounce that weighs 28 grams, a troy ounce weighs 31.1 grams. 

Karat: Karat refers to the purity of gold contained in a particular item. Gold purity measurements typically range from 8K (33% purity) to 24k (99.5% < purity).

Markup: The markup of an item refers to the spread between a dealer’s wholesale cost and the retail price they charge. When a dealer pays 5% over spot and charges his client 6%, the markup is 1%.

Premium: The premium of a product refers to the overall cost above the spot price of the metal content. For example, if gold is trading at $1,800 per ounce and a 1 ounce gold American Eagle cost $1,880, the mark up is $80.

LBMA Good Delivery Bars: These are gold bullion bars that are recognized by the London Bullion Market Association as manufactured by the world’s most reputable gold and silver refiners.

Carded or Uncarded: This refers to the condition of any gold bullion bar. A carded bar remains in the original plastic or cardboard package it was sold in whereas an uncarded bar means that the bar has been separated from its original packaging. 

Hand Poured Bar: These are gold, silver, platinum, or palladium bullion bars that are individually poured and do not fit the perfect mold of a mass-produced bullion product.  

Impaired: When bullion coins or bars are impaired, they contain imperfections such as scratches, dings, dents, or gashes. 

Melt Value: The melt value refers to the dollar value of any precious metal if melted at the current international spot price.

Numismatic: The term is used in the collector community to refer to a rare coin, bar, or other object.

Historic Coin: This refers to coins that have historic value. 

Liquidity: The liquidity of an asses refers to how easily it can be bought or sold. If a coin is very liquid that means that it can be exchanged for cash quickly. Many rare coins and not very liquid and may take extended periods of time to sell. 

Coin Grade: This refers to the condition of a coin. The standard grading scale for coins is 1 to 70.

NCG: Stands for Numismatic Guarantee Corporation. NGC is the world’s largest third-party coin grading service. 

PCGS: Stands for Professional Coin Grading Service. PCGS is one of the world’s most respected third-part coin grading service.

CAC: Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC) is a Far Hills, New Jersey coin certification company started in 2007 by coin dealer John Albanese. When a coin has a CAC sticker on it, it is recognized by the numismatic community as being graded at .5 to .9 above the base grade. For example, an NGC MS 64 CAC coin is recognized as being MS 64.5-64.9 whereas a non-CAC MS 64 is not.

Slabbed: This refers to the state of a coin that has already been graded and stored in a irremovable plastic coin capsule. 

Circulated: These are coins that have been placed in hands of the public and handled by one or more people. Circulated coins typically display traditional marks or blemishes. 

Uncirculated: These are coins that have not been placed in circulation and have not been handled by a large number of people or an extended period of time. Uncirculated coins show little to no signs of imperfection. 

Rim Damage: This refers to when a coin has damage on its rim, the small skinny surface area coins that joins the coin together to both its sides.

Cull: Coins with a “cull” designation are considered to be in overall poor condition and generally would not be of any interest to collectors. Most cull dollars do not display any of a coins original image and may contain holes or cuts in the coin. 

AG-G: Refers to the condition of a coin that is about good or good. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that have about 10% of their original design remaining on their surface. About good or good coins are represented as a 4 out of 70 on the coin grading scale.

VG: Refers to the condition of a coin that is very good. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that have about 25% of their original design remaining on their surface. Very good coins are represented as a 8 out of 70 on the coin grading scale.

F (Fine): Refers to the condition of a coin that is fine This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that have about 50% of their original design remaining on their surface. Fine coins are represented as a 12 out of 70 on the coin grading scale.

VF: Refers to the condition of a coin that is very fine. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that have about 75% of their original design remaining on their surface. Very Fine coins are represented as a 20 out of 70 on the coin grading scale.XF: Refers to the condition of a coin that is extra fine. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that have about 90% of their original design remaining on their surface. Extra fine coins are represented as a 40 out of 70 on the coin grading scale.

AU: Refers to the condition of a coin that is about uncirculated. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that have about 95% of their original design remaining on their surface and some original luster. About uncirculated coins are represented as a 50-55 out of 70 on the coin grading scale.

BU: Refers to the condition of a coin that is about good or good. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that display 100% of their original design remaining on their surface and plenty of luster. Brilliant uncirculated coins are represented as a 60+ out of 70 on the coin grading scale.

MS: Refers to the condition of a coin that is in mint condition. This has a very specific meaning in the coin world and refers to coins that display 100% of their original design remaining on their surface and plenty of luster. Mint state coins are the absolute highest grade of coins in existence and they represented 60-70 out of 70 on the coin grading scale. Coins in mint state condition are graded in single digit increments—MS 60, MS 61, MS 62, MS 63, MS 64, MS 65, MS 66, MS 67, MS 68, MS 69, and MS 70.

Raw: This refers to a coin that is ungraded and not enclosed in a irremovable plastic grading capsule.

Obverse: The front of a coin.

Reverse: The back of a coin.

Proof: When a coin has a shiny finish on its obverse and reverse sides.

Matte: When a coin has a dull finish on its obverse and reverse sides.

Reverse Proof: This is a coin that is struck in the same manner as a normal proof coin with a slight difference. The fields of the coin are frosty, and the raised devices are mirror-like. When a coin is a reverse proof it does not mean that only the reverse side of the coin is struck in with a proof finish.

Pre-33 Old Gold: Old gold or Pre-33 gold refers to gold U.S. $20, $10, $5, $2.5, and $1 coins minted prior to 1933.  

Morgan Dollars: Morgan dollars are United States 90% silver dollar coins that were minted from 1878 to 1904, in 1921. Many numismatic investors hold Morgan dollars. 

Peace Dollars: Peace dollars are United States 90% silver dollar coins that were minted from 1921 to 1928, in 1934 and 1935.

Purity: This refers to the amount of gold contained in a piece of jewelry. In other words, how pure the piece is.

Scrap: Any piece of fine jewelry that is no longer usable because it is damaged, beyond repair, out of style, or unwanted is considered scrap. 

Period Piece: Jewelry that comes from a particular period in time such as old English jewelry or early American jewelry.  

Designer Piece: A designer piece of fine jewelry is produced and fabricated by a well know jewelry designer such as David Yurman, John Hardy, James Avery, Mignon Faget, Cartier, Tiffany, or David Web. Typically, these pieces trade on the second-hand market at several multiples above their melt price.

TCW: Total carat weight refers to the sum total of carat weight of gemstones contained in a single piece of fine jewelry.  

Melt Price: The melt price of piece of jewelry is the dollar value of the precious metal content if it were melted. 

8K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 33.3% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 8K or the numbers 333.

10K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 41.7% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 10K or the numbers 417.

12K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 50% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 12K or 500.

14K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 58.5% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 14K or 585.

18K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 75% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 18K or 750.

20K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 83.3% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 20K or 833.

21K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 87.5% pure gold. Often these items will be marked with either 21K or 875.

22K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 91.7% pure. Often these items will be marked with either 22K or 917.

24K: Any gold object, typically jewelry, that is 99.9% pure. Often these items will be marked with either 24K or 999.

Spot Price: The international spot price in the measurement tool that tracks the current value of precious metals. The spot price changes minute by minute based on the supply and demand of precious metals.

Bid: The price a market buyer is willing to pay for your precious metal

Ask: The price a market buyer is willing to sell a precious metal.

Spread: The dollar or percentage difference between the bid and ask price from precious metals is known as the spread. 

Backwardation: This is when the current price of a precious metal is higher than prices trading in the futures market. This can occur as a result of a higher demand for an asset currently than the contracts maturing in the coming months through the futures market.

Contango: Is occurs when the futures price of a commodity is higher than the spot price. When contango occurs when future contracts trade higher than the current spot price of a precious metal. 

Futures Contract: a futures contract is a standardized legal agreement to buy or sell something at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future, between parties not known to each other.

Margin Requirements: This is the percentage of cash an investor must put up for a marginable security. When an investor buys a futures contract on margin, they only put up a percentage of cash required to buy the contract and therefore take a loan out to cover the remaining cost of the contract. 

ETF’s: Electronically Traded Funds are financial instruments designed to track the performance of the underlying assets they represent. The logic behind ETFs is quite simple, investors are allowed to buy an allocated basket of stocks, real estate, currencies, or commodities without having to purchase each individual asset.