Do you think proofs are "real" coins?
XpipedreamR
Posts: 8,059 ✭✭
I got to thinking about this after reading the other post about why proofs are relatively undervalued.
My belief:
My own take on proofs has always been that although they often look very nice, they are special presentation pieces and are just a lot less interesting than regular mint state coins. Though they'll never be the basis of my collection, I still like to have a few around. I would certainly never pay big, big(to me) money for a proof when there are nice MS coins left to buy.
The reality:
Realistically, I suppose they're not inherently any more or less interesting than MS coins. And in series that I collect, I find my collection of proofs keeps getting bigger and bigger. On a number of occasions, I have paid big, big(to me) money for a proof when there were nice MS coins left to buy.
Maybe I'm in denial, or just plain crazy...a closet proof junkie.
I'd like to hear your feelings about proof coins vs. MS, though
My belief:
My own take on proofs has always been that although they often look very nice, they are special presentation pieces and are just a lot less interesting than regular mint state coins. Though they'll never be the basis of my collection, I still like to have a few around. I would certainly never pay big, big(to me) money for a proof when there are nice MS coins left to buy.
The reality:
Realistically, I suppose they're not inherently any more or less interesting than MS coins. And in series that I collect, I find my collection of proofs keeps getting bigger and bigger. On a number of occasions, I have paid big, big(to me) money for a proof when there were nice MS coins left to buy.
Maybe I'm in denial, or just plain crazy...a closet proof junkie.
I'd like to hear your feelings about proof coins vs. MS, though
0
Comments
42/92
K S
Louis
<< <i>They are legal US tender, which means they can be spent along side of any other US coinage, so yes, they are real coins. >>
Yes, I know they can be spent!
What I'm wondering is if they have the same "soul" as regular coins, or are they just meaningless silver discs?
Jim
<< <i>No, they are not "real" coins. Nor are commemeratives. That they can be spent means nothing. Anything can be spent with the seller's approval.
Jim >>
Then buisness strikes aren't real coins either, because they, along with proof issues, fit equally into your last two sentences.
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
You know, it's weird. I have no desire to collect proofs but if I like a commemorative I'll get the MS or matte versions.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
How can you not like proofs? $29,900 for some "fake" coins, c'mon??? $10 million for some King's proof set. I guess there IS something to the statement "proofs aren't real coins."
Michael
That's another thing- For some reason I like classic proofs but not moderns. I can't explain why because I just don't know.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
I think so.
Russ, NCNE
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
They almost look as nice as these...
Mine are shinier, though!
Stuart
Collect 18th & 19th Century US Type Coins, Silver Dollars, $20 Gold Double Eagles and World Crowns & Talers with High Eye Appeal
"Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity"
<< <i>What I'm wondering is if they have the same "soul" as regular coins, or are they just meaningless silver discs? >>
here's the litmust test. was the proof produced to satisfy intense greed by the us mint to rip collectors & make huge hauls of cash? like the nonsense that goes on today? or was the proof manufactured at a time when the coins were actually bought by REAL coin collectors in the interest of preserving them for future generations?
K S
trivial event and a coin which saw heavy circulation many years ago and almost every example
is highly worn or no longer in existence like an 1804 cent. It doesn't seem though that the
Marshall Islands coin is so much less a coin as it is less a "real" coin. It's really much the same
with many tokens. These often have many more coin-like qualities than do coins like a proof-
only, made for collectors coin. One of the aluminum Kansas tax tokens for instance was issued
by a government authority (state of Kansas) for use in making change in commercial transactions.
These saw heavy circulation for a brief time and most examples were worn.
There are other considerations, though. Older US proofs were made for collectors but they were
of identical design to the circulating issues and the mint was well aware that they could circulate
as money just as with the S-mint circulation proofs today. The earlier proofs were made to order
and were considered superior examples of circulating coins.
The term coin is a continuum with the "realness" dependent on many factors and it is up to the
individual collector to decide where each coin belongs. Considerations such as composition, design,
usage, mintage, reason for issue, and contemporary attitude will all enter into where one believes
these fall on the scale. Many people collect "coins" which they believe lie at even the low end of
the scale. Even medals, siege issues, pornograhic issues, and counterfeits are collected. Very few
would believe any such items are really "coins" yet that doesn't mean they can't be fun to collect.
I've corresponded with people who collect the punch out discs from electrical boxes or the metallic
tags which used to often be nailed on crates of consumer and industrial goods. There are lots of
people who collect the little licence plates that the charities used to send out in the '60's. As one
gets even further afield there are S&H green stamps, lottery tickets, and various cardboard and
plastic "tokens".
Proofs make an intersting collectible and they can certainly be very valuable in many cases. Does
it really matter exactly where they lie on the continuum even to those who collect them?
Just the fact that something that delicate was preserved in the condition that some of them are,
and the fact that some are rather beat-up looking - really emphasizes their delicacy.
Recent PROOFs are nice, I certainly collect them by date, many times in multiples, but circulated coins are my
primary collection
This is a poll that I'd been planning for a long time. Although I have a few proofs, they lack the charm (or "soul" as you eloquently put it) that business strikes have.
Proofs are beautiful no doubt, but they certainly lack that special something found in a mass produced coins ment for the common man.
This litmus test doesn't make a lot of sense. Because I happen to live in the current day, and collect proofs that I often acquire from the mint, I am not a REAL coin collector??? And at what point did the mint switch from a noble pursuit of history preservation to a mindset of "intense greed" to rip the collectors?? Asinine. The mint charged me approximately $35 in 1999 for 10 amazingly made proofs, 7 of which were silver, and the same set is now worth over $250..... hmmm.... I think I got ripped??
I love collecting proofs just as much as I love collecting MS coins- and proof coins that have toned can be amazingly beautiful....
<< <i>Real Men only collect Mint State coins. more status
If real men only collect business strikes does that mean girlie-men collect proofs??
<< <i>They are legal US tender, which means they can be spent along side of any other US coinage, so yes, they are real coins. >>
I'm still waiting to find that Proof 1804 dollar in change.
and they're cold.
I don't want nobody to shoot me in the foxhole."
Mary
Best Franklin Website
I saw on the tube that they are selling these 1933 20$ gold pieces that is legal tender. The gold is plated of course but it will spend. I was thinking about buying one just to spend it.
PuRpLe
I like them because they (usually) show what a full strike is supposed to look like...
...and usually they are really shiny
<< <i>They are real. Over the years I've even gotten some in change in the course of normal transactions...none recently, though. >>
A couple of years ago, my wife put aside a quarter she received in change. She wanted me to look at it because it looked "funny," both in terms of the surface of the coin and the coloring on the edge of it. I think she suspected it was fake.
Turns out she received an impaired Proof-55 1999-S New Jersey quarter -- silver.
If you are a historical hobbyist and your main interest is in holding a worn out coin in your hand and imaging where this coin has been, what was going on when this coin was in circulation, if you are not interested in investment quality, nor super strike, or seeing, every fine detail on a coin. You have no interest in mintages, cameo effects or color, then Proof coins will be meaningless to you.
If on the other hand you are interested in strike, small mintages, investment quality material, cameo effects, super colors, etc. Then you most likely are interested in proofs.
It might be interesting to note that a very large percentage of the rarer coins on the planet are proofs. Who here would not like to own some proof gold, or even Laura’s Proof Indian cent set that is for sale in CW this week?
They are real and they are just nice versions of the normal ones.
I also love to go through rolls to find coins.
BST
MySlabbedCoins
I like old proofs. Proofs are real coins. Our souls are a private matter.
Then again, if you show me some 19th century proofs.......
<< <i>How can you not like proofs? >>
No one said we didn't like them. As works of art they are very desirable, I just don't feel they are real coins any more than any other third world NCLT thing sold to collectors to raise money.
Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.
<< <i>here's the litmust test. was the proof produced to satisfy intense greed by the us mint to rip collectors & make huge hauls of cash? like the nonsense that goes on today? or was the proof manufactured at a time when the coins were actually bought by REALcoin collectors in the interest of preserving them for future generations?
This litmus test doesn't make a lot of sense. Because I happen to live in the current day, and collect proofs that I often acquire from the mint, I am not a REAL coin collector??? And at what point did the mint switch from a noble pursuit of history preservation to a mindset of "intense greed" to rip the collectors?? Asinine. The mint charged me approximately $35 in 1999 for 10 amazingly made proofs, 7 of which were silver, and the same set is now worth over $250..... hmmm.... I think I got ripped?? >>
you have to answer the litmus test for YOURSELF. my answer may (& does) differ from yours.
K S