A coin sorter for sorting coins in terms of their diameter comprising a rotatably mounted coin-carrying disc having a resilient top surface onto which coins may be fed; a drive motor for rotating the disc; a guide plate having a central opening and a configured lower surface positioned over and closely adjacent to the disc, and wherein the configured surface includes an inner recess within which coins are free to move radially, and the inner recess extends outwardly from the central opening, and guide plate forming a referencing region for receiving the coins from the inner recess and pressing them against the resilient top surface of the coin-carrying disc while engaging the radially outer edges of the coins of all denominations and moving the coins radially inwardly as the coins are advanced circumferentially so that the radially outer edges of the coins of all denominations are positioned at a common radial location, whereby the radially inner edges of the coins are positioned at different radial locations determined by the diameters of the respective coins, and sorting recesses disposed around the outer periphery of the guide plate for sorting coins of different denominations according to the different radial locations of the radially inner edges of the coins of different denominations, the sorting recesses ejecting coins of a common denomination at a common circumferential location on the periphery of the guide plate.