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Yes, I have read that also, mintmark acorn. BCW elaborates on page 10, ‘On the 2nd April 1574 the Queen issued an unusual order for just 10 pounds of pennies, to be kept by the Warden ‘ to our use’. ‘ and also states that ‘these rare coins , which were produced just before the acorn coins were pyxed, are the first specially minted Maundy coins. They continued to be produced during the following four years when the eglantine mark was in use, but only in sufficient numbers for the Maundy ceremony’. Jerry

Generally you need to see it in hand to be sure. However, there are ways of telling a coin is unlikely to be a proof - if the teeth are not of uniform length, spacing, and evenness; if the rim is not of even width or the coin is even slightly off centre; if there is slight flattening to bits of the strike of what appears otherwise to be an uncirculated specimen .. then (for post-1816 coins or post-1797 for copper) I would cast doubts on its being a proof.