what is the difference between a proof 40 percent and a proof 40 percent b.u. and how can you tell the difference?
There is no "proof 40 percent b.u". The coin is proof if it's mirror like, bu is like a regular coin. It's either proof or bu.
71 thru 76 the mint produced 40% silver proofs sold in a brown box (often referred to as brown Ikes) and also produce a 40% silver uncirulated sold in a navy blue evelope (Blue IKE). They both have the S mintmark. Easiest way to tell if a IKE is silver or clad is to look at the edge - 40% silver has no copper layer.
Both were produced at the San Francisco mint exclusively for collectors, they were not coins for circulation. As said above, the 40% silver coins will not have copper on the rim while normal circulation strikes will. To tell a proof from a business strike coin (assuming the coin is uncirculated)...look for a very mirror like finish. If the coin has that, odds are it's a proof. There are more technical ways to determine a proof coin, but for modern proofs...if the coin's fields are very mirror like, it's a proof. This is what a proof looks like: http://www.jmscoins.com/files/d_814.jpg
whoops My bad I have a dansco Eisenhower album including proof only issues and I guess I just looked at it wrong. Instead of 40 percent proof B.U. it's only 40 percent proof and 40 percent B.U. There are two separate slots with those titles. By the way, what does B.U. stand for? Thanks for the replies.
Brilliant Uncirculated. Its a commonly used term for coins in the MS63 range or so. Dansco likes to use it on their slots for business strike coins that were only issued as mint sets.
Here is a rather poor picture of a 1972S, but it is a proof in a scratched US Mint holder, along with some other antique store pick-ups.
re: Ok I think I might be understanding this a bit more...so dansco put two spots for basically the same coin?
Not exactly, I just pulled up an picture of the dansco book and I'll try and explain in more detail. Just for the sake of this example, lets pick the year as 1974. Here is a pic of the Dansco page that has the 1974 Ike's on it. I didn't take this photo myself, I found it online a while ago (on eBay I think). You can see, there are 5 coins in the book from 1974: 1974, 1974-D, 1974-S Clad Proof, 1974-S 40% BU, 1974-S 40% Proof. OK, so here are those 5 coins in detail: 1974 The coin labeled "1974" was minted for circulation in Philadelphia. It is a standard nickel-clad which is .750 copper and .250 nickel. 1974-D The coin labeled "1974-D" was minted for circulation in Denver. It is a standard nickel-clad which is .750 copper and .250 nickel. 1974-S Clad Proof The coin labeled "1974-S Clad Proof" was minted for collectors in San Francisco. It came in proof sets only along with a proof cent, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar. All coins in the proof set had the mirror finish as seen in the images above. It is a standard nickel-clad which is .750 copper and .250 nickel. 1974-S 40% BU The coin labeled "1974-S 40% BU" was minted for collectors in San Francisco. The silver Ike's were sold by the mint in blue packages. They are a "business strike" because they have the standard luster like a circulation coin (they are not mirrored like a proof issue). They are composed of 40% silver. 1974-S 40% Proof The coin labeled "1974-S 40% Proof" was minted for collectors in San Francisco. The silver Ike's were sold by the mint in brown packages. They are a mirrored proof just like the coin's issued in the proof set. However, these Ike's were sold individually. They are composed of 40% silver.
No, a cyllinder made of two pieces of copy paper taped together. Coin at one end, camera at the other, and four lights on the sides...Mike
You know, you take the best pics by of coins around here. You should put a tutorial together for us terrible photographers. :kewl:
Richie, Thanks for the kind words, but you are too kind. If you are interested in learning more about coin photography, one of the best coin photographers I've seen -- Mark Goodman -- just wrote a book on the topic. I've not read it yet, but others have shown fabulous improvement after doing so. You might consider buying it: http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-Ph...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217715564&sr=8-1 Here is the author's website which also has lots of good info: http://coinimaging.com/ If you would like suggestions on how to improve your photos, just post a few for comment. However, writing a tutorial is a serious undertaking (which I would take very seriously) and not something I would consider at this point given the amount of time it would take to do right. Again, thanks for the kind words....Mike
