Uncirculated/Circulated Confusion

Very vague terminology. Many dealers purchase coin in rolls, take them out, put them in flips and lable as Uncirculated. Or even BU for Brilliant Uncirculated. Are they wrong? Many coin stores do the same. I would suspect the only way to get real Uncirculated coins out of circulation would be to stand at the end of the Mints assembly line and grab them. But then too those would not really have ever been in circulation so those could be Uncirculated. Once the Mint sends them out anywhere, they have no been in circulation or so to speak. Those are the same ones you could have gotten from that line at the Mint.
Regardless of any of this, coins appear in change all the time with virtually no or extreamely little wear. So now those from change should be Circulated but many would still lable them Uncirculated.
Much easier to just say here is a coin with no wear. Wonder what people would say if a dealers 2x2's were all labled with Not Much Wear on This One.

I'm glad this helped to clarify a few things for you, drdave. I want to expound on the subject a bit more.

A quick question for Just Carl:



Are you stating that a coin with no wear is circulated simply because of the issuing authority's intent? That's kind of how it reads out to me.


Now, no wear denotes "Mint State" or "uncirculated". The OP used the definition:



Generally in grading, numeric grades for a coin with no wear are denoted by Mint State (or MS) while descriptive (or adjectival) grades for a coin with no wear are denoted by the term "Uncirculated".

In his introduction to the Fifth Edition of the ANA Grading Standards (commenting on Circulated coins), Q. David Bowers makes the assumption: "Once a coin enters general circulation in the channels of commerce it begins to show signs of wear." (emphasis added) This assumption is generally true within its context. I emphasized two important "requirements" in the assumption that lends to the end result of the coin becoming "circulated".

The first requirement is that the coin should enter "general circulation". Obviously, the meaning of any term we attempt to use is up for debate. I would think that logic would dictate that "general circulation" would exclude processing through the Mint, the Fed (and its agents), and the distributing banks. In order to enter "general circulation" the coin would have to have already been processed through at least three channels until it finally reaches the "general public" for "general circulation".

Thus, I think that most of us could agree that marks obtained from these first three channels would not be considered "circulation" and the coin has not yet circulated although it is in a "bank roll" waiting for distribution. I would claim such a coin to generally be "uncirculated" at this point. And not because it has not yet been passed off to a bank customer.

The second requirement is that the coin should be "in the channels of commerce". Now, I would see this as a business going to the bank, and obtaining rolls to use as change. The business breaks the coins into the till to eventually scoop them up and pass them off to you (the customer) as change. The moment this occurs, wear begins to become evident.

The coin is now circulated. It is not because the issuing authority intended for the coin to be circulated. It is not because there are nicks and marks from clashing against other coins in the Mint hopper, or at the Fed agent's coin counter, or from clanging against other rolls in the armored car, in the bank vault, or in the merchant's till. It is not because a bank teller handed the roll to a customer.

The coin is circulated because it shows evidence of wear. Until that point, the coin is not circulated. The addendum of "a coin without wear" in the definition used by the OP stands on its own. It is the definition of an "uncirculated" coin...a coin without wear.

Circulation is indicated by wear. Wear is the abrasion of metal from the coins surface. Abrasion occurs through handling. Unless the coin had been generally handled, it is still in Mint State (or Uncirculated).

By considering every coin passed off by a bank to a customer (regardless of actual wear) as "circulated" then any "Uncirculated" or Mint State Large Cents, IHC, and early Wheaties are nearly all a farce, not to mention most of the silvers and gold.

"Uncirculated" is a term defining the lack of the evidence of wear on a coin.

When you use that acetone stuff, is it recognizable on the coin.? I see lots of replies in the Grading threads that say 'looks cleaned' - would an acetone cleaning result in an obviously cleaned coin? Would a grading service pick that up?

Sorry, that was dip, not acetone. All my IQ points go when the kids are around.

I seldom, if ever read long, dragged, supposedly detailed out replys. Usually excessively repeditive and something read somewhere else. I did read the last sentence though and that sort of sums up the entire reply anyway.
As usual this post went from Uncirculated coins to coin cleaning which happens lots of times. Ask what time it is and someone tells you how a watch is made.
Actually there is really little confusion on what is and what is not a circulated coin. If a coin shows no wear, dents, dinks, scratches, etc. it could, might, should be called Uncirculated. Since many coins right from the Mint already have some of those, I guess you could, might, should say Almost Uncirculated, or AU. Guess that is where AU comes from, maybe.

I know it will never be this way, but I wish there was a premium for a coin which has been circulated but appears to be uncirculated. Getting proof or mint coins is easy. Getting the same quality coin, but from general circulation is much harder and is maybe worthy of a small premium in the eyes of some simply due to scarcity.

BUT (and a big 'but' is it) there is no way to prove it. If there was a small premium for circulated coins in near perfect condition over mint set coins, scammers would then taking mint set coins and pass them off as BC, Brilliant Circulated. I might have just made that BC term up.

tamshowoff - so little wear is OK for it to be uncirculated? Doesn't make sense to me. The whole "wear/no wear" issue is clear to me now, but I still see it being defined/used incorrectly.

trent - I agree with you and now it makes sense that it is UNUSUAL yet POSSIBLE to find a MS coin in general public circulation.

Thanks for all your replies!