1942-P War Nickels... how to tell PR from business strike MS?

Sorry if this is a silly question, but...

If speaking about non-slabbed coins... how would you tell a Proof from a high-grade Mint State Jefferson War Nickel? My understanding is that they heavily polish the Proof dies and use them first, then once they're worn down, they will use them to make business strikes. Yes or no?

I guess it would be obvious to those of you who have been doing this for a long time.

Edit: I found this thread and am reading it now... https://www.cointalk.com/threads/1938-jefferson-proof-vs-misrepresented-business-strike-coin.210648/

 

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19th century sometimes, 20th century rarely if ever.

 

I think it happens on a fairly regular basis even in modern times-the Type "B" reverse quarters are an example where the proof die can be easily distinguished from the business strike die and where proof dies were certainly used to strike business strike coinage when they were no longer suitable for proofs. The "Wide AM" Lincolns, some Peace dollars and some Buffalo nickels that can be identified by their unique die markers would be another example. I doubt that the Mint would discard a perfectly usable die in any case-they are quite expensive.

 

Never, ever thought that distinguishing between a proof and a MS coin would prove to be a problem. This thread shocks me!

 

I don't think they used worn proof dies with the type B reverse to strike business strikes. More likely they used dies that had been hubbed with the type B reverse hub, but never polished and used for proofs to strike business strikes. That is what happened with the 98, 99, and 00 WAM cents and the 98 S and 99 S CAM cents. The dies just got sent to the wrong place. To prove otherwise you would have to find an example of both a proof and business strike with the same die markers and I don't believe that has been done.

That would be even more likely with the type B reverse quarters since the dies for the proof and business strikes were both made and used in Philadelphia.