Abstract: A coin sorter for sorting mixed coins by denomination. The apparatus comprises a rotatable disc which has a resilient surface for receiving coins and imparting rotational movement to the coins. A stationary sorting head has a contoured surface spaced slightly away from and generally parallel to the resilient surface of the rotatable disc. The stationary sorting head sorts and discharges coins of different denominations at different exits around the periphery of the stationary sorting head. The sorting head includes a separate exit channel for each denomination of coin, and a sensor for each coin denomination within the exit channel for that denomination. An encoder monitors the movement of a sensed coin on the rotating disc downstream of the sensors by monitoring the angular movement of the disc. Further, a coin discriminator is used to detect foreign and counterfeit coins and to prevent the detected invalid coins from being discharged with the valid coins.