Roman imperial coin, struck c. 241, with the head of Tranquillina on the obverse, or front of the coin, and her marriage to GordianIII depicted on the reverse, or back side of the coin, in smaller scale; the coin exhibits the obverse – "head", or front – and reverse – "tail", or back – convention that still dominates much coinage today. Legend: SABINIA TRANQVILLINA AVG / CONCORDIA AVGG.A Roman imperial coin of Marcus Claudius Tacitus, who ruled briefly from 275 to 276, follows the convention of obverse and reverse coin traditions. Legend: IMP C M CL TACITVS AVG / VICTORIA GOTTHI
The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse tails.
In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the term front is more commonly used than obverse, while usage of reverse is widespread.[citation needed]
^ abDavid Sear. Greek Imperial Coins and Their Values. Spink Books, 1982. ISBN9781912667352 p. xxxv.
^Jonathan Edwards. Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Coins in the Numismatic Collection of Yale College, Volume 2. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1880. p. 228.
^Allen G. Berman. Warman's Coins And Paper Money: Identification and Price Guide. Penguin, 2008. ISBN9781440219153