Mountain View Coins

Coin Dictionary - S

Sheldon Scale

A system of grading coins which was originally introduced by the late Dr. William H. Sheldon, for the purpose of grading large cents. The system was adapted to all coins in the early 1970's. The scale uses a 70 point rating system with 1 being the lowest grade and 70 being the perfect coin.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

Authored by Senator John Sherman, the Act replaced the Bland-Allison Act with a new set of rules for government silver purchases. The new Act mandated the US Government purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per month. The hitch was that these purchases were to be paid with Treasury bonds redeemable in either gold or silver. Since gold was seen as the more valued metal, most bond holders redeemed them for gold which depleted the Treasury’s gold supply which then caused a financial panic through the whole country in 1893. This led to the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

Series

In coin collecting, a series refers to a collection of a specific denomination that has all the dates and mints within the collection. For example, the Roosevelt Series would contain all the dimes produced from each mint from 1946 to present.

A series is also referred to as a "set".

Set

See Series

Slabbed Coin

A coin that has been encapsulated in a protective contain usually made out of clear hard plastic. The coin will have been authenticated and graded using the 70-point Sheldon Scale.