Question of the day

[utah_ranch]

The price list shows a listing (price,s) for 1965 through 1967 SMS (all coins those years) and also for 1965-1967 (non SMS).

I know we all get coins from SMS mint sets, but where does the NON-SMS fit in,

 

Would it be wise to "assume" that a BU bank roll of those years (cents through half's,) are NON-SMS coins,

 

and...how would NGC or PCGS grade A coin from those rolls as NON-SMS Coins?

Or..is there some other way to tell is a coin is SMS or not?

[Conder101]

Yes a coin from a bank roll would be a non-SMS coin. Non-SMS simply means a regular business strike coin.

 

and...how would NGC or PCGS grade A coin from those rolls as NON-SMS Coins?

Or..is there some other way to tell is a coin is SMS or not?

They wing it. While there is usually a quality difference between busines strikes and SMS coins there is no sure way to tell them apart. A poorly made SMS coin looks like a business strike, and a well made business strike will look like an SMS coin. There's the problem. A high grade business strike coin is rare and quite valuable. But it tends to look like an average SMS coin, and an average SMS coin is common and not worth much. Often high grade business strikes which are submitted come back as average SMS. Basicly if they are nice but obviously not top grade SMS the services usually defer to calling them SMS because they have much more liability if they call something a top grade business strike and then later they decide it is actually an SMS coin. But no one complains if an SMS coin that is resubmitted comes back as a business strike since that usually means an INCREASE in value.

[Coindude]

Actually, the SMS issues were struck in San Francisco with the high pressure presses. Although the same care was not given to the dies / planchets / and to the coins after being struck, there are quite a few of the early strikes that do look like proof coins. In fact the earliest strikes were cameo in nature. Even with this, the only coins that truly look like todays proof strikes are those of the 1967 vintage. There are some examples, very rare in the first two years, that you would be hard pressed to call SMS and would essentially call proof.

 

So, because of the fact that they were struck with the higher pressure presses, the same characteristics exist, the better defined edges and more crisp lines.

 

As stated above, the later die states will tend to look like a regular business strike coin with dull flat surfaces. The cents were the worst to suffer the fate, not exactly sure why there.

 

The thing where you will find the most trouble is, the grading services almost automatically think that a super high grade coin must be a SMS coin and I've seen many people complain that they removed a coin from an original bank roll only to have the TPG slab it as an SMS.

 

So to answer your question, yes you can tell, and yes some are hard to tell. And believe it or not, the TPG's also have a hard time telling and they do make mistakes.

 

If you'd like to see some good examples of SMS coins that are PL / Cam, take a look at my registry coins. I take good pictures of coins and the pictures of my coins are very lifelike. Enjoy, I know I love them!

 

http://www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/PeopleSetDetail.aspx?PeopleSetID=27747