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In determining the value of a proof coin you are faced not only in grading the coin but also in determining the type of appearance on the coin.  You will find that proofs come in brilliant, cameo and deep cameo appearances.  

A deep cameo coin will have a mirrored background (fields) with a heavy frosting on the images (devices).  These are beautiful coins, which appear to have a black background with white frosty images.  A cameo will have a slightly less frosty appearance on the images. There won’t be a strong of a contrast as the deep cameo but it is still noticeable. A brilliant proof will show the images and fields with a mirrored finish. You will not see much contrast between the images and the fields. An additional consideration for deep cameo and cameo coins is that they must have the same contrast on both the obverse and reverse of the coin. It is not unusual to see a coin with a nice cameo on the obverse and a brilliant finish on the reverse. These types of coins won’t carry a cameo designation by a reputable grading company. 

Modern technology allows the mint to produce more deep cameo coins then ever before. You will still run across late date proofs that have a cameo and brilliant finish. So these days finding a late date proof with a deep cameo appearances is not that rare.  

If we look at Kennedy half-dollars as an example you will see that DCAM coins are not all that common prior to 1976. The PCGS pricing guide shows that the CAM pricing drops off in 1977.  Going forward from there it won’t be unusual to find DCAM coins for your Kennedy Proof collection.

It is a bit harder to find late date proofs with a PR69 (proof 69) designation. While they are fairly common you will find that not all proofs straight from the mint will bring a PR69 grade. Sometimes handling of the coins at the mint or preparing them for grading will result in slight flaws that will prevent a coin from grading PR69.

Click on the grading link and lets see what the differences are between the different grades of proofs.

Here is coin that fails to make the CAM or DCAM designation. Notice that the obverse has a very nice cameo but the reverse is a brilliant finish. For this reason the coin, which is also an accented-hair piece, is valued at $62 for a PR67 rather then $500 for a CAM! So I only look at the obverse and pretend it’s a $500 dollar coin ;)

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