Thirty-two coals from around the world were sieved into two size fractions (53-75 and 106-125 mu m) and characterised using proximate analysis and standard petrographic techniques as well as the Nottingham reactive assessment program. A small amount of each sample was pyrolysed using a drop tube furnace operating at 1300 degrees C, 100 ms and 156 (v/v) oxygen. The chars were mounted in resin, polished and characterised morphologically using manual and automated image analysis techniques. The intrinsic reactivity of each char was evaluated using a themogravimetric analyser under non-isothermal conditions. Both intrinsic reactivity and char morphology were found to relate to the coals original petrographic characteristics, although not directly to either maceral content or vitrinite reflectance measurements.