Glossary

Actual Gold Content - The amount of gold that exists in the item with the weight of the alloying metals subtracted.

Ag - The chemical symbol for silver.

Au - The chemical symbol for gold which is derived from “aurum”, the Latin word for gold.

Ask - The price at which a dealer offers to sell.

Assay - An analysis of a metal which is done in order to determine its purity.

Bar - A mass of metal cast or shaped into a convenient shape. In the precious metals industry, the words bar and ingot are used interchangeably.

Bear Market - Describes investment markets such as stock markets or metals markets in which prices are, or are soon expected to be, in decline. The opposite of a bear market is a bull market.

Bid - The price at which a dealer is willing to buy.

Britannia Silver - An alloy of silver which contains 95.84% silver.

Bull Market - Describes investment markets such as stock markets or metals markets in which prices are, or are soon expected to be, on the rise. The opposite of a bull market is a bear market.

Bullion – Gold coins/bars which are .995 fine (99.5% pure) or higher.

Bullion Coin – Coins struck at a fast rate with a focus on efficiency & as such have a similar finish to circulating coins. They are not intended to highlight the coins design or craftsmanship and are generally brought as a store of value due to their precious metal content.

Bust - The head, neck, shoulders and upper chest of an image generally found on the obverse (front) of a coin.

Brilliant Uncirculated - Coins produced to a higher standard then circulated or bullion coins. The dies used to strike the coins are polished and finished by hand and given a consistent polished finish. BU coins offer a good level of design detailing but have lower definition compared with Proof coins.

Carat - A measurement of weight which is generally used in reference to gems.

CGT Free - Capital Gains Tax Free

Coin - A stamped piece of metal of a known weight and fineness issued for commerce.

Commemoratives - Legal tender coins or medallions minted to commemorate themes, events, places, or people.

Cu - The metallurgical symbol for copper.

Edge - The side of a coin which may be reeded, lettered or plain.

Face Value - The legal monetary value printed/written/stamped on the face of a currency.

Fiat Money - Paper money made legal tender by law, although not backed by gold or silver.

Field - The open area or background of the coins design.

Fine Gold - Pure gold, 24 karat, or .999 fine gold.

Fine Silver – Pure Silver or 99.9% silver

Fine Weight – The amount of gold that exists in the item with the weight of the alloying metals subtracted.

Fineness - The purity of a precious metal; commonly expressed in parts per thousand e.g. .999

Gold - A precious yellow metallic element that is resistant to oxidation and is highly ductile and malleable.

Gold Bug - A Gold bug (or goldbug) is an enthusiastic advocate of owning gold at all times, supports returning to the gold standard and is generally knowledgeable about the dangers of paper money.

Gold Standard - A monetary system based on convertibility into gold; paper money backed and interchangeable with gold.

Good Delivery - The specification that a bar of precious metal must meet in order to be acceptable for delivery at a particular exchange.

Grading Service - A company that grades numismatic coins.

Gram - The basic unit of weight of the metric system A metric unit of mass and weight. A gram equals approximately 1/32 Troy oz. and is used in Troy weight as a measure of gold. (31.1035 grams = one troy ounce.)

Hallmark – The type of investments Hallmark Investments offer. Marks which are struck on items made of precious metals. A UK hallmark will indicate; the type of metal, its fineness, commonly the maker/sponsor, and the year it was hallmarked.

Hedge - A transaction initiated with the specific intent of protecting an existing or anticipated physical market exposure from unexpected or adverse price fluctuations.

Ingot - A mass of metal cast into a convenient shape. In the precious metals industry, the words ingot and bar are used interchangeably.

Karat - A measure of gold fineness or purity. Pure gold is considered to be 24 karat.

Legal Tender - A medium of payment recognised by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation.

Legend - The inscription on a coin.

Liquidity - The quality of being readily convertible into cash.

Locked in - Unlike purchasing an item from Apple, the prices for our products fluctuate constantly with the market. They are constantly changing. A buyer can “lock in” a price either online or by phone the moment he or she orders. This is known as a “market order” and is fixed permanently the moment the order is placed, whether the price moves higher or lower afterwards. once you “lock in” your order, you own the metal at that price.

Medallion - A round piece of metal resembling a coin but not considered Government issued legal tender.

Milk Spots - Small white marks that appear on some coins. These are nothing to worry about and have no impact on the value of the coin. These marks tend to show on Bullion coins and consensus seems to be that they are caused by the polishing agents used by the mints.

Mint - The place where a coin or bar was manufactured.

Mint Mark - A letter or symbol stamped on a coin to identify the mint where it was struck.

Noble - Modern platinum bullion coin issued by the Isle of Man since 1983.

NGC - Acronym for Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America

Nominal Face Value - Nominal value given to legal tender coins sold for their metal content. Example: the 1-oz Gold Eagle carries a $50 face value but sells for the value of its gold content plus a premium of 5% to 8%.

Numismatic coins - Coins where their price depends more on their rarity, condition, dates, and mint marks rather than their gold or silver content.

Obverse - The front of a coin. Typically the image of one or more people.

Ounce - A unit of weight. In the precious metals industry, an ounce means a troy ounce equal to 31.1035 grams.

PCGS - Acronym for Professional Coin Grading Service

Physicals Market - A marketplace in which the physical product is traded, as opposed to a futures market where “contracts” are traded and physical delivery of the product may or may not take place.

Premium - The additional cost of bullion over and above the spot gold price.

Pre-Owned Coins - Generally older coins that have been bought by a collector or investor in the past and then sold back to us. As these are used coins, they may feature some small scratches or imperfections above those a new coin from the mint may contain, but still in satisfactory condition for bullion investment.

Proof Coin - High quality detail, sharpness and finish. The dies used to strike proof coins are generally hand finished to ensure that they are of the highest standard. Proof blanks are of a higher quality than BU or Bullion blanks and can be struck up to six times at low speed to ensure a smoother finish with more detail.

Proof Design - A proof coin that has been removed from its box and/or certificate. Coins may have been handled.

Purity - A coin’s purity is calculated as the precious metal weight divided by the total weight. In the case of a .9999 fine gold coin, the gold content is at least 99.99% of the total weight. A gold American Eagle coin contains 1 troy ounce of gold, but the total coin weight is 1.09 troy ounces (the coin contains other alloys). Therefore, the purity of the coin is 1/1.09 = .917 or 91.7% or 22 karat.

Restrike – An officially issued reproduction of a former circulating coin, usually with no numismatic value.

Reverse - The back of a coin. Typically the image of a country’s insignia.

Sovereign - English gold coin with a face value of one pound sterling and a gold content of .2354 ounce. British gold Sovereigns were struck worldwide at the height of the British Empire. Each is 91.7% pure (22k) and contains .2354 troy ounce of pure gold. Condition of these pre-1928 coins we offer is Extra Fine to Almost Mint.

Spot Gold Price – The current price at which gold is being traded. Usually taken from the London spot price.

Spread - The difference between the buying price and the selling price of an object at the same time on the same day by the same person. If gold is purchased at $400.00 per ounce, and sold at $390.00,the spread is $10.00.

Troy Ounce - a troy ounce is equal to 31.1034768 grams and differs from the commonly used Avoirdupois ounce (28.34g). The troy weights system is commonly used to measure the mass of precious metals, such as gold, silver.

Uncirculated Coin - A coin that has not been in circulation for use.

Yield - A measure of the annual return on an investment expressed as a percentage.