History Of United States Coinage

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History of United States Coinage

Through United States history presidents like Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington, Kennedy, Eisenhower and others have been displayed on U.S. Coin heads. The United States mint has also been responsible for designs such as the Indian head, the buffalo, and the ever famous lady liberty. Through the years the U.S. Mints have extended into three branches San Francisco, Denver, and Philadelphia (Yeoman, 2001 edition 101). Those branches are responsible for making certain marks on the coins to show that they are not counterfeit. The mints have also come up with what they call their proof standards. Coins have been around for many years, they have had changing mints, designs, and variety's which have all been represented by past events and presidents.
The U.S. Mint has it's own standards as in how good of a state the coin is in
after wear and tear. The best a coin can ever be is called the proof state which is
a specially made coin distinguished by sharpness of the detail and usually with a brilliant mirror like surface (Yeoman, 1999 edition 5). The next state down is the mint state (ms) these coins show no trace of being worn nor blemishes or color loss (Yeoman, 1999 edition 6). Third down is called perfect uncirculated (ms-70) these coins show perfect new condition, showing no trace of wear, no evidence of scratches, handling or contact with other coins, very few regular issued coins are ever found in this condition (Yeoman, 1999 edition 7). The fourth down state is choice uncirculated (ms-65) which is an above average uncirculated coin which may be brilliant or lightly toned and has very few contact marks on the surface or rim (Yeoman, 1999 edition 8). The fifth state down is the uncirculated (ms-60) which has no trace of wear, but may show a number of contact marks, and surface may be
spotted or lack some luster (Yeoman, 1999 edition 9). The sixth state down is choice about uncirculated (a...