Universal Coin Numbering System

Welcome to CCF! It sounds like you may be refering to Krause #'s. Krause is a publisher of many world coin and currency references. A lot of individual U.S. coins are cataloged by die varieties also. Varieties are typically named after the chief cataloger of each series. For instance...Overton #'s for Bust halves, Newcomb #'s for Large Cents, VAM #'s for Morgan and Peace dollars, Snow #'s for Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents......etc

It's not at all a dumb question, because it's not always obvious what the numbers mean.

The numbers are catalogue reference numbers for specific types of coins; each type gets its own number. They are the closest thing you'll find to a universal numbering system as most world coin collectors know (or can easily find out) what they mean, though there are two competing sets of catalogue numbers you might find for world coins. Each country has its own set of catalogue numbers.

Numbers with "Y" in front of them are Yeoman numbers, used for coins dated after 1850 in the Yeoman "Modern World coins" and "Current Coins of the World" catalogues. Sometimes still used in conjunction with this system are "C" numbers, devised for the old Craig "Coins of the World" catalogue (covering the period 1750-1850). These numbers have been in use since the 1960s.

"KM" numbers are used in the Krause Standard Catalogues, and range back to the 1600s. However, The Krause system is newer (begun in the 1970s) and for some countries, the Krause editors have not yet invented their own system and Yeoman and Craig numbers are still used in the Krause books. China is an excellent example of this.

Some European collectors may prefer to use Schön numbers instead, based on the German-language "Weltmünzkatalog".

For older coins (ancient or mediaeval), you'd need to find a specialist catalogue for that particular country or series.

Most people that only collect their own country's coins don't know about or use these systems, since they're designed for the convenience of world coin collectors. I doubt many US coin collectors, for example, would know what the KM number was for a Steel Cent, or a Type II Standing Liberty quarter. Nor would most Australian collectors know what the KM number was for the George V penny or the Edward VII shilling. They would either use those verbal descriptions or would use whatever specialist catalogue number covers that particular coin series.

Thanks guys!

I'm disappointed I've only stumbled upon this forum in the last two weeks or so. For a while I've been "collecting coins", where I would just come across a coin, and put it in a box. I've only recently (since I've found this forum), started organizing and catalogueing them. It's so much more fun when theres other coin collectors to talk to.

Love this forum.