When Does Circulated Begin?

I would say if you now remove them from circulation, fresh from the roll (handled them properly of course, no greasy finger prints) you could consider them un-circulated. If a roll is broken open and you then remove a coin from circulation I think its an Unc. Remember an Unc must show no wear to be an Unc! This is no different than what a dealer does at his store when selling the coins from bank rolls. Good technical question though!!!Mike

When you received your uncirculated coins from McDonald's, depending on the condition you picked them up in, you were just getting uncirculated coins as change. Circulation happens when the coin remains involved in commerce or is handled for a duration long enough to change it so that its details and/or surfaces have been altered from its original state so much that it no longer appears pristine (mint). A truly uncirculated coin "shows no trace of wear."

From the Red Book: Uncirculated "has no trace of wear but may show a number of contact marks, and surface may be spotted or lack some luster."

I also don't agree that the coins have technically circulated. It's more like you and the cashier opened a roll together. In order to call them circulated I believe you need to put them in a parking meter, or use them in commerce. Circulation is a two-way (circular) flow, and your coin has only flowed one way. It may have traveled: Mint to Fed Reserve Bank to local bank to merchant to you. You have stopped the coins from being circulated. Bully! (And I mean that in the T. Roosevelt way).

"Uncirculated" is also a matter of opinion. I posted my 1979-D error quarter in the Errors and Varieties section. This coin had been loaded into a vending machine and came to me via the change slot. It rode in my shirt pocket until I got home and put it in a flip. I sent it in to NGC for grading and they called it as MS-63. For all practical purposes, if a credible grader determines a coin is Unc, then that's what it is!

From mint roll to you, clean hands, didn't jingle with other coins or items=Uncirculated.

Another way of looking at it...an uncirculated collectible coin may change hands many times over the years...maybe at or near face value, frequently well above face value, but the coin is still uncirculated so long as its condition warrants that grade.

OK -- here's the rest of the story (sorry, Paul Harvey.)

Later I went to a local coin dealer where I asked for five Washington-D quarters (because the ones I got at McDonald's were P's), and the clerk in the store reached into a case and brought out a small white box labeled "WA-D" that was full of shiny quarters. From it he took five quarters with his bare hands and slid them into a paper envelope.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between that bunch of quarters and the ones I got from McDonald's was the envelope and, of course, the presence or absence of airborne grease.

Everyone -- thanks for your comments.

Andrew -- you cracked me up.

Madspec -- you betcha. Meet me at the McD's on Old US 27 in DeWitt, Michigan, and I'll buy your breakfast.

Jan