A circulation issue or circulation coin,
[_ (1988). ''The American Coin Redesign Act'', Volume 4, by United States Congress Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.] sometimes called a business strike (US), is a
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...
minted and issued for
commerce
Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...
as opposed to those made as
commemorative coin
Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...
s and
proof coins. Circulation issue coins are normally produced in relatively large numbers, and are primarily meant to be used as pocket change, not
collected.
Even though special collector coins, such as
proof coinage
Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. Nowadays proofs are often struck in greater numbers specially for co ...
, are produced in smaller numbers, the circulation issue coins are sometimes more valuable in high grade than their proof counterparts. This is because whereas proof coins are almost always carefully preserved by their owners, circulation issue usually are not.
References
Coins
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