Proofs In Circulation?

Most are there from ignorance on the part of heirs and thieves, but I do see how a minority could be from collectors on purpose or as misspent pocket pieces.

I find them from time to time. Since they are impaired I just spend them.

Relative to other denominations, there seem to be a much higher percentage of proof halves circulating than for any other denomination. Anyone got an explanation for that?

I have only ever received one proof in circulation and technically it was my wife who received it at the store (and later handed to me). A 1999-S clad proof Delaware quarter.

That is really interesting. I never thought about dealer culls being a significant source of proof coins in circulation, but I do believe it, especially for the ones building gem proof rolls.

For what it is worth, I have received common date wheat cents and dateless Buffalo nickels in change at coin shows before. If it works for these unsaleable coins it would work for proofs. Maybe I will receive one some day.



I have always suspected that dealers do more damage to the number of surviving proof sets than collectors (like me) who crack them for their albums.

When retailers send out proofs most customers expect them to be "perfect". Any little spot or mark might result in a return and bad relations so rolls of commercial proofs have the bottom ~5% removed and these coins are spent. They'll also have the top 1% (more like .5% probably) removed for grading. These rolls are better than average proof sets by a little bit.

But, yes, you make a good point because some individuals who send coins in for grading are just willing to take the small loss on the rest of the set and will spend them. Some of these could be very high grades but not high enough to submit. In many dates even PR-70 isn't high enough to submit.

There are a lot of ways these get into circulation. One of the biggest killers of moderns is accidental recirculation. Few people are going to accidently spend a nice 1893 silver dollar but a modern quarter just blends in with everything else. Many dealers just tell heirs that the moderns aren't worth messing with and they should spend them.

But if you run into a lot of these you'll notice that the dates you'll find tend to be dates whose proof set has just dropped to less than the roll price. Wholesalers keep the sets intact only as long as they have a premium to the roll price and then they get busted up.




Dealers put a lot of old and modern coins into circulation. A great deal of the coins that come into a coin shop for sale aren't readily saleable yet sellers want the dealer to "take it all".

I've found very valuable moderns in the till and then purchased the coins in the till before.

Their loss, your gain.

Very nice!