With the recent instability of the stock market both Gold and Silver coins have again begun to spark the interest of investors.

The long answer is that it’s traditional — in the past, and I mean from the very beginning of US coinage, proofs were minted as representations of circulating coins for presentation purposes (and later for well-heeled collectors). The US Mint continues that tradition of issuing proof coins and the coins that they represent in unc. condition.

Proof coins were not always available to the general public — sometimes you had to be an insider to know that proofs had been minted and available for sale. In the very early days, some proofs were minted to demand and sold (usually at face-value) to very well-connected individuals for their personal collections or to sell at higher prices to other collectors.

When the Mint started selling proofs to the public, they were at many multiples of face value for the special dies and treatment, and for the individual handling of each coin; uncirculated coins were minted with regular dies in standard production, and were often priced at face value plus a modest markup for packaging, mailing, and handling. For many people, buying proof coins was an expensive option that was not necessary to complete a collection — proof was a type of production, not of condition.

In more current times, proofs and unc. coins are priced at relatively closer ratios, and collectors now consider both to be highly collectible, as in one of each, for their collections.

For the Mint, it sees both versions as appealing to coin collectors, and therefore as money-makers, and continues to produce both. It’s up to the individual to purchase whichever one they want, or if they want both.

Personally, I like the proof for the sharp contrast between the field and design elements. I also like the unc. for the softer glow that permeates across the entire coin, including the field and design. In addition, recent proofs are laser frosted, leaving a little less detail in the design elements, whereas the uncirculateds have more detail present. So if I buy a commemorative coin, I will buy both proof and unc. As a bonus, the unc, will have a lower mintage than the proof, and years later might have a higher value.