If you get a nice shiny penny in change somewhere (I have some of those 2017-P ones), how would they be graded since they obviously were in circulation? 60? 59? I would think slightly under MS because well...they were circulated, but Iunno.
As I understand it, as long as the coin does not show signs of circulation, it could conceivably receive an MS70. I am more than willing to be corrected by anyone with more knowledge on the subject, which would be just about everyone here ;-)
There is no 59 grade on the Sheldon scale as adopted by the third-party grading services. MS60 would be for a coin with no wear but lots of bagmarks and scuffs and so on. One seldom encounters MS60-graded slabs, at least in the modern material. A particularly nice example of a 2017 cent taken from circulation might grade MS65 RD or MS66 RD; perhaps MS67 RD if you're lucky. The chances of getting a 68- or a -69 grade are quite small, and getting an MS70 grade is practically impossible for a business strike coin.
Coins are graded by the amount of wear that is on the coin. Not weather it entered circulation or not. If it was graded uncirculated 60-70 for coins not entering circulation, that would mean the coins would not be graded because they would have never left the government's control. Entering circulation for a coin means it was released by the government to a public sector company or an individual and no longer belongs to the government. It takes time in circulation for metal to start showing wear to the metal, meaning the metal is actually starting to decrease from the surfaces (albeit very miniscully) with handling.
Technically yes, a 70 for circulating coins is pretty much unheard of but theoretically possible. Something that just came out of a register can certainly get a high grade (though its rare to find) if it doesn't show any signs of it. Most fresh ones would fall in the 62-65 range with some 66s and 67 if you're lucky. 68s and especially 69s are hard to find from any source even when people are hunting them and really the overwhelming majority leave the mint already in a lower grade than that.
The Shelton Scale, including MS grades, was made and reserved for circulated coins, or coins struck for circulation. Proofs have a different (PR) scale. Edit: There actually should be another scale used for medals, commemoritives, and others not originally intended for circulation. I'm sure there will be some day, so that the TPGs can profit from the regrades.
The reason some are or get confused with the term uncirculated is because they don't know the definition of the word when it is used in numismatics. As stated by others above, it has nothing to do with whether or not the coin is in actual circulation or not. The definition of an uncirculated coin is quite simple - it is a coin that has no wear. And that, in and of itself, can also be confusing for some because they seem to think that the only way a coin can get wear on it is by the coin being in actual circulation. But this is simply not true. A large number of coins have wear on them before they ever leave the mint building. And this wear occurs as part of the normal processes that all coins undergo. And I'm not just talking about modern coins here, I'm talking about the normal processes at the mint that all coins have undergone as far back as you want to go - clear back to the very first coins ever struck. And that, that is why the definition of uncirculated is what it is.
I agree here! My grandma gave me one of these things, and I was told never to take it out of the holder. Obviously this isn't mine but it's what I have. I can't really get a good grade hint because the holder has a plastic seal on it, but it looks like a proof.
'UnCirculated" has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a coin has actually circulated in commerce. It's all about the preservation state of the coin since, technically, once a coin get purchased or traded between collectors, it's been circulated.
Draconaitor, What you have is the proof medal that was used to replace the $20 gold coin in the Canadian Centennial sets that were sold in the United States. At that time people in the united states could not own gold and could only own gold coins struck after 1933 if they were declared "rare and unusual" by the Office of Domestic Gold and Silver Operations (ODGSO). The Director of the ODGSO was very anti collector and it was difficult to get a coin put on the list (he was also inconsistent, sometimes granting an import license for a coin and then later denying a license for the same coin.) They couldn't get the gold $20 on the list so sets with the coin could not be sold or imported into the US. So sets sold to Americans were cheaper and had the $20 replaced with that base metal medal.
