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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 802063, member: 112&quot;]Exactly what rules Siggi ? Be specific.</p><p><br /></p><p>As I have said, it doesn&#039;t matter if the coin is hammered, minted with roller dies, or minted in a modern coin press - the only thing that determines whether a coin is circulated or uncirculated is if the coin has wear on it. If there is no wear, then the coin is uncirculated and is graded as MS.</p><p><br /></p><p>And it&#039;s not hard to tell if a coin has wear or does not have wear, no matter how it was made, because all struck coins have luster. And if there is any wear on the coin, then there will be breaks in the luster at those points.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am making an assumption here, but reading your comments it seems as if you believe that a hammered coin cannot exist in MS/uncirculated condition because the coin is so old. As if because of the age of the coin that the coin must have seen circulation and thuscouldnot be uncirculated or graded as MS.</p><p><br /></p><p>But the age of a coin doesn&#039;t have anything to do with it. You have to remember, coin collectors have existed as long as coins have existed. But back when hammered coins were made, the only people who were coin collectors were the Royalty and the Nobles. They were the only ones who could afford to collect coins. That&#039;s why it is known as the Hobby Of Kings. And the Kings and Nobles of that time collected only uncirculated examples. They got them straight from the mint - because they owned the mint. </p><p><br /></p><p>Today, most European countries still have these Royal Collections. They have been asembled over centuries, always being added to with each passing year. The French for example have a collection that dates back to the time of Hugues Capet in 987. Louis XIIII was a very avid coin collector, his collection was huge ! And the entire thing still exist today.</p><p><br /></p><p>But not all of the collections belonged to Kings. As I said, the Nobles also collected coins. It was their way of competing with the King and other Nobles. It was a status thing. The bigger and better the collection, then the more status the Noble held among his peers. But over the centuries, many Noble families lost their fortunes and the collections would become dispersed, sold off to pay debts. </p><p><br /></p><p>And it is those coins that we, the collectors of today, now own. And many, many of them, are still in the very same condition that they were hundreds of years ago. And they are in that condition because they have never seen circulation, they have been in one collection or another since the day they were minted.</p><p><br /></p><p>So again, to say that a hammered coin cannot exist in Mint State condition is rediculous.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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