Proof is a term from the making of coins. It was originally a designation for a few "first strikes" from a die of a new design. They were used to examine the suitability of the design and the quality of the dice. Usually, they didn't leave the mint, but sometimes served as presentation pieces for VIP's, like the designer of the coins, the mint executives, or important politicians. The coin planchet was often struck multiple times to improve the resolution of the image and the dice were usually polished in advance so the fields were very shiny, almost mirror-like.

Later, it became the practice to produce more "proofs" as presentation pieces, and eventually they became collectibles. Today, the US makes many many proof strikes of each year's coinage and sells them to collectors at a premium to increase the income of the mint.

Now, the term can be applied to any coin or token or medal produced by the process of "coining". Franklin Mint, the first large scale producer of gaming tokens, made proof strikes of each of the gaming tokens they made in the 1960's.

Proof-like is a term applied by collectors to specimens that have the appearance of Proof strikes, but that were not made with that intent. Usually the strikes are very sharp and since they are often the first strikes off a new die, often show the shiny fields due to the initial polishing of the die before the run. Franklin Mint, a commercial activity always looking for new ways to make money, made Proof-like sets of the gaming tokens the were contracted to produce for the casino. These sets, like the proof sets they made, were usually nicely packaged and served as either collector items or presentation pieces for use either by the Mint or by the Casino that paid for them. Sets of Proof-like strikes were made and packaged by FM for each of the years in the 1960's they made gaming tokens.

In later years, even into the 1980's, FM continued to make proof and proof-like strikes as requested by their casino customers. To my knowledge, none of the later year tokens were package as sets, but were individual tokens. In some cases, the proofs were packaged in distinctive octagonal plastic cases stamped with information about the particular token. These cases were not sealed, so they don't serve to positively identify the token as do todays sealed plastic "slabs" made by independent companies for national coinage.

FM artists and craftsmen were, in my opinion, the most creative and skilled makers of gaming tokens for casinos ever. The proof-like tokens, unless they happen to be made of a material different from the casino-run tokens can't be distinguished from the Proof tokens. In those cases where the material IS different, it can be a challenge to the collector to identify and collect every distinct strike made for each casino, each year. When the material is silver or gold, you can almost always tell the difference.

In a few cases, FM made very expensive strikes using material like Platinum and only made one or two for casino executives. In these cases, because of the high density of platinum, they can be distinguished from other proofs or proof-like tokens. However, since only one or two were made, they seldom come onto the market. I believe Bill Harrah is one of those who received Pt proofs of some of the tokens made for his casinos.

I collected FM gaming tokens for years before I became aware of our Chip and Gaming Token Club, and only later became interested in chips for my collection. Both Franklin Mint and writer Chester Krause produced annual lists of the tokens they manufactured. In our hobby, Janice O'Neal was the first collector to my knowledge that tried to catalog all the gaming tokens made for Nevada. She initially concentrated on the $1 tokens, but later added the higher denominations as she learned of them. Printouts of her catalogs are still valued references, as is the catalog of dealer Vince Mowery who used Janice's catalog numbering and produced a sales catalog of the Nevada tokens he had in inventory. This was one of the first places you could find Values of individual Nevada casino tokens.

In recent years, others like Dan Wickett have added to the list of known tokens and today he maintain a web site containing not only descriptions, as Janice did, but adding pictures of the designs. His site carries forward Janice's catalog numbering system.

There are others in the hobby who have created token references, some using their own unique catalog numbering systems. The Club-related Museum of Gaming History maintains The Chip Guide on line, which despite its name, includes tokens as well as chips, and has added other casino memorabilia the collectors have begun collecting.

This started out as a post to answer your question about the terms Proof and Proof-like. I decided it might be of interest to other collectors to give some of the history of gaming tokens and how collectors might learn more about them.