The Reality Of A Coin

JMO that is the EXACT reason proofs hold no intrest to me.

I just can't get into them since they dont envoke the kind of hisory a business strike does.

bibd- Good point about the non-circulating P& D Kennedy halves. But is not your collection still complete without the proofs. They just strike me as a fiction since they had to have been busted out of a set. I am rather neutral on the issue of collecting mint and proof sets, but when one has to bust a non-circulating collector set in order to have a complete set it just seems odd. In this regard proof just seem to be kind of a fiction.

Archaz, you raise a great point.

Some of what the mint has been turning out of late is pure crap. The Presidential dollars, heck most of the commemmorative issues of the past decade, it's all a heap of metal. Or a heap of medals! LOL The dollar coins, now the halves as well, don't circulate at all. I am 47 years old and aside from a few odd times have never seen or used a half dollar with any regularity except at a casino (who have subsequently gone to token use anyway).

Proofs are nice. The mint had it going good for a while, it was hard not to get a good quality set with full deep cameos. Now even that's gone out the window (see my other post about that). I have old proofs which I like a lot, even a few cameos ;) because they remind me of a time when a collector simply wanted a 'musuem' type example of the product of "proving" the dies. Especially the 19th century proofs, which had to be carefully acquired and probably had to be gotten at the mint itself (now, if only I could get my hands on a 19th century proof!).

I think for completness' sake they belong in a collection as much as the business strikes. JMHO.

Bruce

I've picked up over a dozen Proof coins from circulation.

Like other collectible coins, Proofs can be stolen, or end up in the
hands of those that don't know or care that they are collectible.

Best was the 1956 Proof Dime in a roll (some spots, but nice fields!),
and a 2003-S Clad Dime that's ANACS PR-64, which is not too bad
of a grade for something given to me in change at McDonald's!
(it must have been first spent right there!)

Good thing I always have a flip or two in my pocket to keep my 'change
finds' separate from my spending coins....

I do agree with Archraz, my main focus is nice, not too battered, circulated coins, I think The proof and commemorative coins are there for the art work and taste, much like expensive wine after the meal. However I can go straight for the main course, without the wine

I agree with the legal tender argument. Even though they are coins, I don't feel a huge desire to collect them, other than proof only issues.

Sure can be pretty though. So shiny....

In answer to Archraz's original post, I would say that
Proof coins based on circulation-issued coin designs have much more
'legitimacy' than NCLT issues that bear no resemblance to circulation
coins. This is not a knock on NCLT bullion, because bullion
coins have their own reason for existing.

We may still have the JFK Half-Dollaras an NIFC coin, but at least
it was a circulation issue design from 1964 to 2001.

When you have non-bullion NCLT that does not resemble any circulation
issue, that starts to get 'questionable'. The Australian coin
community in particular has many that would agree with that sentiment.

The very foundation of this pastime (coin collecting) is finding
collectible coins from circulation. The collector who assembles a set
of coins from circulation has a satisfaction in their diligence that
you could never achieve by simply buying a complete set of coins.

Right now in the U.S., the excitement about 2009 Coins is centered
around the 'elusive' business strike issues, not the Proofs.
Anyone can call 1-800-USA-MINT or go here and get a Proof Set.

But, if you find a 2009 business strike Coin in U.S. circulation,
you've made a real find! The joy of finding a rare coin from
circulation cannot be duplicated, and this is the 'great equalizer'
of coin collecting. A collector with lots of discretionary income
can buy what they want, but they can't buy the 'luck' of finding a
rare coin in circulation.

I feel an obligation to spend at least some of the 2009
Quarters and Dollars that I get from the Denver Mint. I like knowing
that there are at least a few Tyler Dollars and Guam/Samoa Quarters
that have entered circulation. If they get pulled from circulation,
at least it was by someone who's excited about their 'find'!

This is what makes America Great, It's people.