‘Prooflike’ coins vary in their degree of clear reflectivity

By Eric Von Klinger for Coin World

In virtually any series of coins, collectors may run across a designation of “prooflike” surfaces, but the term is most often encountered in regard to Morgan silver dollars.

It gained currency in the 1950s and 1960s as the last of silver dollar releases from Treasury Department vaults took place. Seemingly vast quantities of decades-old coins suddenly were becoming available in “Uncirculated” condition.

It was apparent even among all these never-used coins that there were substantial differences in overall appealing qualities. Some were “bag-marked” (heavily affected by contact marks). Some were toned from contact with canvas. Some had dull surfaces and others – exceptional pieces – were, well, “prooflike.”

“Proof,” as collectors learn early in their grading lessons, is not a grade but a manufacturing process. A Proof generally is exceptionally well struck, but the surface might vary by process chosen. A Matte Proof, for instance, has a grainy-looking surface.

When collectors talk about “Proof surface” or “prooflike surface,” however, they mean a more usual, brilliant, highly reflective finish in the fields. (Fields are the flat, plain areas away from the design and inscriptions.)

A “prooflike” Uncirculated coin, then, is one with such fields, often described as “mirrorlike.”

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