UNC is uncirculated, yes? BU is brilliant uncirculated, yes? Is there a difference? Got what looks to be four BU or UNC rolls of 2016 Canadian dimes and one roll of 2018 Canadian quarters from the bank this morning. Busted open one roll of dimes as per the picture and they’re all going directly into flips, absolutely gorgeous dimes. Probably not going to open the others. Anyways, I think this is awesome and wanting to share in my excitement! The customer wrapped rolls only produced one American coin, a, 1988 D Washington and no Jeffersons.
UNC is MS60-70 (uncirculated but grade not specified) BU is MS60-63 Having said that, people don't generally just say UNC if they know a coin is a 68, know what I mean? So the odds are if it just says UNC it probably is lower grade (BU) for that reason, but the terms do not mean the same thing.
Okay, cool. What do I call these rolls? I went back for more btw and found two bus stop pennies and one back alley quarter, yeah, happy day although it looks and feels like it’s gonna snow.
You can call them UNC. It would not be wrong to call them BU, either. Though many dealers call their lower MS coins BU, and don't put that to the mid or high grade MS coins, that is mostly marketing. BU also simply means the coin is uncirculated and has most or all of its original luster. In otherwords, uncirculated.
Basically if you are buying a coin that someone says is BU, you have the right to have it be uncirculated and not a slider, and at least MS60-63. Consider yourself lucky if you get a 64-66 and I won the lottery happy if you get 67-up. That said, there is no requirement to absolutely be grading your unc coins to assure they are 60-63 to tell someone they are BU.
I love it when someone is selling/displaying an uncirculated toned coin and calls it BU. I guess it would be more correct to label it TU.