All proof coins are commemoratives.. agree? no?
PhillyJoe
Posts: 2,695 ✭✭✭✭
So it's my 1,000th post and I have to come up with something worthy of discussion.
Last week, the guy that sits next to me at work asked if I had any new arrivals to share. I looked in my drawer and asked "do you want to see some Kennedy proofs or a couple of modern commemoratives. Without missing a beat he said,
"all proof coins are commemoratives"
My first reaction was to throw the stapler at him for being so uninformed about my little hobby, but then I thought he might have a valid point. Back in the 1800s only a few hundred proofs were made in a series and were supposedly used for presentation pieces. Then, and now, they were never minted for circulation. An argument can be made, (let's pick a coin series at random) that the roughly 4,000,000 1964 Kennedy proofs were minted as commemoratives in addition to the issuance of the 400,000,000 circulating coins.
Do you think his statement has merit, is dead wrong, or should I ask Stephanie?
Joe
Last week, the guy that sits next to me at work asked if I had any new arrivals to share. I looked in my drawer and asked "do you want to see some Kennedy proofs or a couple of modern commemoratives. Without missing a beat he said,
"all proof coins are commemoratives"
My first reaction was to throw the stapler at him for being so uninformed about my little hobby, but then I thought he might have a valid point. Back in the 1800s only a few hundred proofs were made in a series and were supposedly used for presentation pieces. Then, and now, they were never minted for circulation. An argument can be made, (let's pick a coin series at random) that the roughly 4,000,000 1964 Kennedy proofs were minted as commemoratives in addition to the issuance of the 400,000,000 circulating coins.
Do you think his statement has merit, is dead wrong, or should I ask Stephanie?
Joe
The Philadelphia Mint: making coins since 1792. We make money by making money. Now in our 225th year thanks to no competition. 
0
Comments
Regular Proof coins with the standard designs on them that are made via a special process. The resulting coins resemble their business strike counterparts and could easily be spent by the general public who might not know any better. Regular Proof coins are made over a period of years and many collectors maintain date sets of them.
Commemorative coins have special designs, and are usually struck and issued for a limited period of time. Like Proof coins they were intended to sell for more than their face value and become keepsakes or collectors' items. Unlike business strikes their designs are so unsual that most any member of the general public could note that they are quite different. Commorative coins can be made in the business strike or the Proof format. In most cases there are very limited on no date runs of commemorative coins.
Regular issue coins seldom commemorative one event although they might commemorate a person. Many commemorative coins commemorate an event; few of them commemorate a person.
Not even close !!!
Registry 1909-1958 Proof Lincolns