Is my Mercury Dime 1941 Proof or Regular strike? HELP!

Is my Mercury Dime 1941 Proof or Regular strike?

From what I have read this could well be a proof example:

• The details are extremely prominent and the strike is sharp.
• There is a mirrored, reflective quality to the coin.
• The year and mint allow for a proof version of this to exist (1941 Philadelphia Mint).
• It has been protected in a plastic wallet for a long time which I dare not open.

However, I am hesitant to conclude this is a proof strike because:

• American coinage is not my expertise.
• The 'business strike' mintage for this year is a huge 175 million vs a small 16 thousand proof coins. Odds are I could have a nice, regular dime.

Any help and advice is appreciated. Should this be proof, I think I will get it graded.

 

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Hello and Welcome to CoinTalk! Must have missed you Friday. This is a very well struck (Mint State) dime! I wish you could carefully remove it from the flip. It appears to be and I'm quite certain, a normal business strike. Awaiting more comments......

 

Cheers for the welcome SensibleSal and thanks for the input!
May I ask what leads you to believe it to be a business strike, please? Is there a telltale sign I am missing? I hope to learn!
Thank you.

 

Welcome to CT.
Proofs show much more detail and will have mirror like fields. Once you look at a few it becomes easy to spot the difference.

 

It's nearly impossible to confuse the proof from business strikes. Some things, as mentioned, come with looking at tons of coins.

 

Noted - thank you for clearing this up for me.

 

I disagree. I have been looking at coins for decades, and I still can't tell. I think some people just don’t see things the same as others. I have an astigmatism. I have difficulty seeing those hidden images posters as well. I mark every (non-moderen)proof I own. Otherwise they look the same as a cleaned coin to me. That's also why I don't play the grading game, or see red or red brown in a cent.

 

Business strike. Welcome to CT, good luck, and keep posting. Nice Coin.

 

Cheers Mr.Q. Thank you for interacting with the post.

 

You should really remove the coin from the plastic envelope before taking a photograph. It will show us more details and eliminate reflections. In this case I would agree with a business strike due to the lack of the mirror like surface that is indicative of a proof strike.

 

Not a proof by any means but it is a very well struck coin.

 

whilst I agree it is not proof (courtesy of this feed), is it possible that the 'harsh cleaning' on the Obverse is due to the old flip it is stored in and my subpar photography?
To me, the obverse looks practically mint state and therefor untouched.

 

That ‘plastic wallet’ might not be all that protective. For sure a hole at the staple. And then there’s the staple itself.
If this coin is really high quality it deserves a decent 2x2 at least. And we hope you’ll take some more good pictures while it breathes freedom for awhile

 

Your wish is my command - upgrading the flip and will be taking some better pictures. Cheers.

 

I don't collect these, but one can easily realize this is an excellent strike. Once is photographed out of the plastic I think a better determination can be made on the cleaning. It is still an excellent looking coin. and I hope for yoou it has not been cleaned.

Welcome to Coin Talk!

 

New images here taken under 3 differing lights. This is also at 10x magnification.

 

Very nice mercury/Liberty. MS65=$23, MS66=$36 (NumisMedia)…not valuable enough for TPG but encapsulation is definitely in order.

Your most recent pics show the surface very clearly and confirm it is a business strike…imo…Spark

 

Thanks for the comment Spark - noted!

 

Nice coin but definitely a business strike. In addition to all the other comments supporting BS, note that the center horizontal band on the reverse is not separated.