UNC or BU

When you buy a set of coins for a country (one each of the denominations) sealed in plastic in a cardboard holder… what would be the grade of the coins, would they be uncirculated or BU grade?  They are not mint or proof sets.

Quote: ken6528When you buy a set of coins for a country (one each of the denominations) sealed in plastic in a cardboard holder… what would be the grade of the coins, would they be uncirculated or BU grade?  They are not mint or proof sets.

who put the coins in the holder? They might not be either unc or BU.
The only way you can determine that is to grade them or have them graded. BTW, "BU" is an uncirculated coin that the seller doesn't want to go out on a limb on and give an actual grade to like MS-65, MS-63 etc. I've also seen "choice BU," "Gem BU" - all just terms of art to avoid giving the coin a grade.

Hiya Ken,

I'm kinda new here andjust joined very recently...
And kinda wonderedthe same as what your asking....

And I came to the following conclusion...

1.....Uncirculated means just that.....
       The coins have never been circulated and  therefore have no fingerprints
        or any other form of contamination.

2.....BU (brilliant uncirculated? - i think thats what it stands for...)
        Is like the above, but no doubt the coins/tokens have been stored ever so safely,
        like in plastic /cardboard holder and maybe theres NO fingerprints at all or even dust or anything....

3.....When the coins are first recieved from the manufacturer/mint theyre in BU Quality,
        And occasional handling or neccesary movement may take the brilliance away and
        yuor left with uncirculated???

Sooooooooooooo......
in my mind.....
to answer your question.....
When you buy the coins theyre in a BU grade.

but please.........
Dont take my word for it,
I'm still learning and hoping to gain knowledge from the other members,
Most of whom have more knowledge on the subject in their little pinkies
than i do in my whole world hahaha

And what i wrote above is simply my own OPINION....
Yet its still nice to discuss and learn and thats why i wrote this.

I hope one of the moderators can answer your question properly,
and maybe i can learn something too.

Quote: ken6528When you buy a set of coins for a country (one each of the denominations) sealed in plastic in a cardboard holder… what would be the grade of the coins, would they be uncirculated or BU grade?  They are not mint or proof sets.

Ken: do you mean when you buy a set of coins "from" a country? Maybe you could tell us what coins you are talking about.  Is this an official product of a country's mint?

I have 2 sets from Mietens (www.mietens.de)

1 is 2002 Ireland 8 coins
1 is 2002 Germany 8 coins coins are mixed F and G mints

Another is 2011 Estonia 2011 8 coins, no name on package and the coins are not sealed in plastic. These will be Uncirculated at best.

I am getting 1 more set in the mail and will post it when it comes.

Hiya ChasInva69,

After reading your explanation,
I was a little confused....

So i had a look at the wiki coin grading page,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_grading

And everything you wrote fell into place and made lots of sense,
where-as at first i was confused by it, not understanding the relavance of MS-65, MS-63 etc.

But the Wiki page explained everything in detail!

Theres also a table listing the equvalent grading grades used internationally.....
As one grade in one country might not have the same letters in another country
I wasnt aware of this at all but am now after reading this thread and the wiki page

I find this article very useful:

http://www.pykerley.worldonline.co.uk/coins/grading/index.html

It comes from a UK coin dealer, so is a lot more reliable than web sites where just anyone can upload their own disinformation.

Matt

Hiya Matt,

Hey thats great,
Especially for beginners like me :D

The pictures so much more than words
Which are a bit difficult to understand at times...