I know everyone will be sick of me soon, but I'll never learn unless I ask. Now from I'm reading and have learned, uncirculated is only the condition of a coin, and any coin can be in the condition, even one that has been in circulation. Is that right? I know it sounds really stupid, because I would think it means what it is, never circulated. And if that is the case, and it's just the condition of the coin, then what are coins called that have never been in circulation? Proofs? Mint coins, or sets? It's sooo confusing!! Oh, and what is a clad? I've seen a few people mention them, but I don't know what it is. Bill, again
Uncirculated and circulated are mint states. Think of it this way....the mint strikes a coin, sends it to a company to be put into rolls, who send it to your bank, who give it to Walmart. You buy something at Walmart and get these in change. So the coin has been in circulation, but it is in uncirculated(mint state) condition. You also got a nickel from 1952 in change, it will be in circulated condition, (worn). A mint set or proof coin is a whole different story. These coins were made by the U. S. Mint for collectors only. They are put in special packaging to protect them. Sometimes people spend them and you can find them in circulation, but this is rare. A slab is a piece of plastic from a grading company(PCGS, NGC, ANACS). They encapsulate a coin and put their opinion of the grade of that coin in the slab. If this is done by a reputable company, it will guarantee that the coin you are buying is real, and that the grade (the amount of circulation)is correct. Unfortunately, there are many who try to cheat you by slabbing coins that aren't what they say they are. Now show and tell.... This is an uncirculated MS64 slabbed coin... This is a circulated raw coin..... Buy the Red Book, keep learning, ask lots of questions. Don't buy anything until you buy the book. And then enjoy!! This can be an enjoyable and wonderful hobby, but remember, it is a hobby. :smile
Un-Circulated and Circulted are 2 grades... Unc-Circulated stands for a coin that has no wear... Circulated stands for a coin that shows wear...on the high point form handling...bag marks are not a form or wear! Speedy
BTW - "clad" and "slab" are totally unrelated terms. "Clad" refers to the style of planchets used since 1965 on the US coins that used to be silver. They are a layer of copper sandwiched between ("clad in") cu-ni layers.
Yes, that is right. Becky gave a perfect example of how this can happen. You just contradicted yourself my young friend. I know what you were trying to say, but I think you let your fingers outrun your thoughts
I have a way of putting my foot in my mouth.....Oh well.....I'll fix it and try to make it look better.... Speedy
What???...Human???!!! You should know after putting up with me for 5+ years that I came from Mars and came to earth on a UFO :headbang: Speedy
Uncirculated. The problem is that unless the coins are still sealed inside of the original mint packaging, if they show no wear there is no way for certain to tell if they have ever been in circulation or not. If they DO show wear then they are obviously circulated coins. Proof coins are specially minted coins that are usually characterized by mirror finished fields with either brilliant or frosted devices. The coins are struck at least twice are a much higher pressure. This causes them to be fully struck up with sharp details and flat square edges. *where the edge meets the rim is sharp and squared off, not rounded or bevelaed as frequently seen on business strikes. (Business strike, coin made for general circulation.)
What's kind of amuzing is that way, way back when I first started to collect there was only Uncirculated, Proof, Fine and Good. I'm still used to that. However, nowadays there are Almost Uncirc, About Uncirc., AU with a number from 1 to 1,000,000 or MS with a number from 1 to 1,000,000. Then the G's, F's and P's all have numbers after them also. I'm very old and still have trouble between Fine, Very Fine and Almost Uncirc. Maybe I'll go back to stamp collecting.
While we're here, let's add that Proof is a method of minting (as mentioned previoulsy), not a condition. A proof coin can be circulated and heavily worn, but it is still a proof. An Unc. coin can never be a proof, and a proof coin can never be an Uncirculated/business strike.
