I've been looking at some auction results recently and my surprise, proof like coins have achieved much higher prices than their proof counterparts. I accept that they are high quality business strikes and fairly infrequent, but aren't they really just 'pretenders' and not the 'real deal'. With proof strikes being much fewer, is this just a case of bidders getting a bit carried away and going over the top?? Or am I missing something??!!
Proofs were sold straight to collectors and received special treatment along the way. Proof-likes, in most cases, were happenstance and put into circulation along with other business strikes. Thus, it is generally easier to obtain a high grade proof than a high grade proof-like.
Yes, you are missing something (but then, maybe so am I). The Proofs are made as non-circulating issues and are socked away and we KNOW how many of them are made. For Proof-like issues, how do we know how many there are?
@1934 Wreath Crown Yes, there is a big difference between the two. First, proof coins are produced using specially prepared and highly polished dies. The planchets are also polished and struck twice for the best results. Proof-like business strikes occur very early during production before the dies begin to deteriorate. It is also very common that these PL business strikes in high grades will command higher prices than proof coins of the same grade because they do not undergo the same preparation during production. Chris
I totally accept the opinions above if we were talking about coins that went into circulation. Here I'm talking about '80s and '90s gold sovereigns which will never see circulation. I suppose not knowing how many examples might exist and their nature as being "rare and accidentally high quality strikes' seem to be the most logical arguments. But I still find it hard to accept. Maybe I'm just whining 'coz I wanted to win one of the coins and they went for more than I could justify .
You have a valid point given the coins in question. A point, that in my opinion anyway, should be accounted for when one is considering buying a coin like those in your situation, or any similar situations. What happens is people take a principle like PL vs PF and they think it applies across the board, to all coins. So they end up paying more than they really should for the PL coin because they are failing to consider the circumstances, the given situation. That being that collector coins are different than business strikes. Collector coins are struck in much smaller numbers than business strikes, and the dies used to strike many fewer coins per die before the dies are replaced. And, as a general rule, the planchets for collector coins are produced with much more care and attention than the planchets for business strikes are. End result, a much higher percentage of PL coins from the entire mintage. So an adjustment in perceived value should be made by buyers. Problem is, few stop to think and realize what I just described above. Now granted PL coins, even in collector coins, should be worthy of a premium, over that of the regular coins in the type. But not to degree that it is for coins issued for circulation. So what to do ? Well, it seems to me that a smart collector, when he wants a specific collector coin, would buy nice examples without the PL designation, thus saving himself money and still having a nice coin for his collection.
