In a coin sorter of the kind in which coins of mixed denomination are sorted between a rotating resilient disc and a sorting head, stacked coins are broken up and the excess coins recirculated prior to referencing a single-file stream of coins to a fixed radial position and recirculating excess coins that are not properly referenced. By recirculating the coins in these two different circumstances, the breaking up of the stacked coins does not hinder the referencing of the coins, and consequently the possibility of miss-sorting due to stacked coins is reduced and the sorting speed is increased, especially when sorting predominately small thin coins such as dimes. To increase the sorting speed when small thin coins are mixed with large thick coins, the large thick coins are preselected before being referenced together with the coins of other denominations. Preferably, thick coins which are not initially referenced to an extreme outward radial position are recirculated prior to reaching the deflecting wall which breaks up double coins, since such thick coins would otherwise hinder the flow of thin coins.