Proof, Business or Special?
It’s all in the strike.
Well, we have all seen coins that are labeled as either Proof, Business or Special Strikes. If you are wondering what the difference is, you have come to the right place. If I do my job right in the next couple of minutes you will become an expert. Well maybe….
First off, what are supposed to be the differences? What do these phrases mean? And how does this impact collecting and values? Let’s start with what they are. All three of those labels refer to a “method of manufacture” In other words, how it was made. This is tricky because the Mint never comes out and tells people exactly what the differences are so we on the outside can really only speculate. But we do know a little. Let’s start with business strikes.
These are strikes made to be used in everyday commerce. It takes a lot of Cents. Nickels, Dimes and Quarters to make an economy turn. So, the Government takes it upon itself to create the money we need to buy things. While most of this money is made in the form of paper, the need for coinage is still a requirement. According to the US Mint, in 2023 it produced 11.38 billion of these small metallic-denominated works of Art combined across all denominations. While this sounds like a lot, it is the lowest amount since 2012. Imagine the work that goes into producing 11+ billion objects? I get tired just thinking about it. But these are mostly coins created to serve the everyday needs of commerce and as such are called “Business Strikes.” The production of these coins is built around the concept of consistency and speed. If you ever get the chance of touring a mint facility (which I highly recommend) you will be amazed at how fast the coins go through the stamping process. In some cases, they are making 750 Coins a minute or over 12 a second. It is actually amazing that they can create such a uniform product so quickly. As they come out of the machine they are ejected into a large bin and all the coins literally bang and slip along until they find their place in the pile. But that is the business of making a business strike coinage. It is to keep up with the demands of Commerce and make sure each piece is recognizable and usable for what it is. Business Strike coins can be purchased in what are called Mint Sets every year. These sets are specially packaged Business Stike coins that are not necessarily made any different but do go into individual packaging to protect them from any further nicks, wear or scratches.
What is a proof strike then? The term probably comes from the days of printing where someone would produce a Galley Proof that they would use to show what the final product would look like. Over time it began to evolve to mean “here is a high-quality representation” of what a printing will look like before the full run begins. And from there it evolved to mean creating small special editions of something for collectors. So, the US Mint began creating high quality “proof” coins and sets specifically for the collector market. While you can spend these coins as they are legal tender, the manufacturing process was such that the coin had mirror like finishes and were exceptionally strongly struck. Here is what we know about how Proof Coins are made. The dies used for Proof Strikes are more highly polished than Business Stike Dies. This is what produces the razor-sharp strike and finish of the coins. The blank planchets are fed into the striking machine either manually or at least a much slower rate of speed. There is a common perception that the coins are stuck more than once, but no one knows that for sure. We do know that instead of dropping into a bin with thousands of other coins, they are handled with gloves and move directly to packaging without ever being touched by human hands. In summary they are stuck slower and use high-definition dies and moved directly into various types of protective packaging.
This leaves us with Special Strikes. As you may have guessed, this is a method of manufacture that is used in making any other type of coins that are not made in one of the two ways above. They may use Special dies but not go into packaging straight away or are produced with only parts of the dies polished to mirror finishes. My first inkling of Special strikes come from the Special Mint Sets produced in 1965, 1966 and 1967. There were No Proof Sets, or Mint Sets produced in those years. Just these Special Mint Sets or better known as SMS Sets. They were essentially produced without the normally highly polished dies but were moved to individual packaging instead of being dumped into a bin at 12 times per second.
In conclusion, there are all just methods of manufacture and what makes them different is that they incorporate different production and handling procedures. The Proof Coins and Special Stikes are made for Collectors, and the business strikes are what are made for everyone’s change pocket.