Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 25940442, member: 10461&quot;]“Brilliant Uncirculated” is an older, more general term.</p><p><br /></p><p>I believe “Mint State” came about because it more accurately describes the situation for a coin with no wear.</p><p><br /></p><p>You see, “Uncirculated” is a bit of a misnomer, because a coin with no wear on it actually might <i>have</i> circulated for a brief time. It just happened to survive all that without picking up any wear.</p><p><br /></p><p>“Uncirculated” implies that such a coin never entered commerce (circulated) at all, which is not always technically true.&nbsp; In other words, an “Uncirculated” coin, despite its lack of wear, might indeed have actually circulated briefly, but just didn’t get worn at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is why the modern usage of “Mint State” is more precise.&nbsp; A coin is described as being in the same <i>state</i> it was in when it left the Mint, regardless of whether or not it spent any time in circulation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, the addition of Sheldon Scale numbers to the MS- prefix (MS63, MS65, etc.) is more precise than the older, adjectival grading descriptions like “Choice BU” and “Gem BU”.</p><p><br /></p><p>The older “Uncirculated” designations just never completely fell out of use, and for the most part, they’re fine to use interchangeably with the more precise “Mint State” terminology.&nbsp; They’re just more general.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3">Irrelevant side note: my phone fought me all the way when I typed this message, and kept suggesting the word “<b>uncircumcised</b>” when I was trying to type “uncirculated”.&nbsp; LOL</font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in