FDC

FDC describes a coin of the highest possible quality. A French phrase Fleur De Coin using the medieval word coin meaning of the die from which a coin is struck. FDC translates to English as Flower of the Die, literally the best the die can produce. An FDC coin is as close to perfect as possible in all respects. It must be mint state with nothing off the flan including any border, have no significant weakness other than minor die tilt weakness, no damage or corrosion, and if it has patina the patina must be attractive.

I hunt for FDC coins, looking through thousands of coins per year and most years I do not find one. The closest I currently have on hand with which to illustrate this page is this Koson gold stater which is just a few weak beads away from a true FDC. Most collectors will never own or possibly even see a true FDC ancient coin, but they are the starting point from which the relative quality of other coins is judged.

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