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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;messydesk, post: 3175887, member: 1765&quot;]In the case of the SMS coins, the manufacturing process is not that of proofs, neither is it that of normal business strikes.&nbsp; The mint stopped making proof coins and started making coins that bore much in common with the pre-1817 specimen coins, even though they weren&#039;t made on a screw press.</p><p><br /></p><p>The SP designation, rather than MS, indicates that it is not graded the same way as a business strike, which is an important distinction to make, as those who collect clad coinage surely know.&nbsp; If you don&#039;t like saying &quot;specimen,&quot; then say &quot;special strike,&quot; which also starts with SP.</p><p><br /></p><p>But if we&#039;re being bound to a term that you say has been cast in stone forever, why do we call proof coins made before 1854 proofs, when the mint itself didn&#039;t use the term until then?&nbsp; Why don&#039;t we have the term &quot;master coin&quot; anymore?&nbsp; Why are patterns considered to be coins of experimental design, composition, and/or manufacture when the mint once used the term for what we now call proofs?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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