Acmonital: A form of stainless steel used in Italy since 1939.
Alloy: Mixture of metals. The vast majority of coins are struck from an alloy.
Aluminium: Lightweight silver colored metal. First used in British West Africa and British East Africa for coins of low denominations.
Aluminium bronze: Durable, gold-colored alloy of aluminium and copper.
Base metal: Any non-precious metal or an alloy containing neither gold nor silver.
Bath metal: Bronze alloy containing 78 per cent copper and 22 percent tin, used to produce tokens for Ireland, pennies for the Isle of Man and coins for colonial America.
Billion: Any alloy containing less than 50 percent silver.
Bimetallic: Made of two different metals or alloys; such coins usually have a plug or disk in one metal and the outer ring in another.
Brass: Alloy of copper and zinc.
Bronze: Alloy of copper and tin.
Bullion: Precious metal whose value is determined entirely by its weight and fineness.
Bullion coin: Coin struck in precious metal, most often with an inscription displaying its weight and fineness. Values fluctuate according to the market price.
Copper: Metal widely used for coinage since classic times. Pure copper was used for British coinage until 1860.
Crown gold: Gold of 22 carat (.916 ) fineness. First used in England in 1526 for the gold crown.
Cupro-nickel: Alloy of copper and nickel.
Electrum: Also known as white gold, a natural alloy of about 73 per cent and 27 per silver. Used in the ancient coins of the Mediterranean region.
Gold: Precious metal used for coins since the 7th century BC.
Iron: Extensively used in primitive currency and for emergency coinage in Scandinavia during both World Wars.
Lead: In its pure form used by Frederick 111 of Denmark in 1660.
Nickel: Durable base metal used extensively in coinage to replace silver. Nickel has been used by many countries including Switzerland, Austria and South-Africa.
Pewter: Tin alloyed with lead. Used in China for some time.
Platinum: Used for Russian roubles from 1826 to 1845 and occasionally in recent years for proof coins.
Potin: Twenty per cent silver mixed with copper, tin, zinc and lead. Used by Celtic tribes with the addition of a little gold.
Silver: Precious metal widely used for coinage from the 6th century BC onward.
Steel: Metal refined from iron and used in stainless or chromed version for coinage since 1939.
Tin: Even though tin corrodes badly it was used for coins in Malaysia, Thailand and the East Indies as well as for English farthings in 1684-92.
White gold: Ancient term for electrum.
Zinc: Metal alloyed with copper to produce brass. Zinc coins were common in Asia in the nineteenth century and first used in Europe in 1923.
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