Obverse and reverse

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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 numismatics, the abbreviation obv. is used for obverse,^[1] while ℞,^[1] )(^[2] and rev.^[3] are used for reverse. Vexillologists use the symbols "normal" for the obverse and "reverse" for the reverse. The "two-sided" , "mirror" , and "equal" symbols are further used to describe the relationship between the obverse and reverse sides of a flag.

In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the term front is more commonly used than obverse, while usage of reverse is widespread.^{[citation needed]}

The equivalent terms used in codicology, manuscript studies, print studies and publishing are "recto" and "verso".^{[citation needed]}