I bought some GSA Morgans, decided to test my photography setup/skill.

[bigscores]

Still fairly new to this whole VAM thing, so they might not all be dead on.



'80-CC VAM 8

'82-CC VAM 3

'82-CC VAM 3B

'82-CC VAM 3 or VAM 4? Not sure.

'83-CC VAM 5 PL

'83-CC Unidentified VAM. VAMWorld says this should be a VAM 5 or a subtype, but the die markers don't match up good enough to make me confident... it looks more like VAM 7, which they merged into 5, but like a later-die state VAM 7. Any ideas?

'84-CC VAM 4.

'84-CC VAM 4A

'84-CC VAM 6

'85-CC VAM 3

 

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[yelnif]

Hello Bigscores, congrats on your 'cc Morgan's, I think your photography is excellent. I do not coin roll hunt so thus the question- what is "VAM"? thank you. HH yelnif

 

[bigscores]

VAM designations basically just determine which die parings are used to strike the coins. Certain VAM's can carry HUGE premiums. Unfortunately, none of these VAM's are really rare and/or desirable.

 

[yelnif]

Thanks for the clarification bigscores. I was also under the impression that 'cc' silver was desirable and sought after. HH yelnif

VAM designations basically just determine which die parings are used to strike the coins. Certain VAM's can carry HUGE premiums. Unfortunately, none of these VAM's are really rare and/or desirable.

 

[bigscores]

Sure is, common-date Morgans in BU are worth about $30 max... CC's start at around $200.

 

[huntsman53]

Hello Bigscores, congrats on your 'cc Morgan's, I think your photography is excellent. I do not coin roll hunt so thus the question- what is "VAM"? thank you. HH yelnif

http://www.vamworld.com/VAM

 

[coinguy*matthew]

I'd say your photo setup is killer thanks for the show........

 

[bigscores]

Anytime! I got another in today!

 

[yelnif]

Thanks for the link huntsman53- that is quite interesting. It sounds like there are still unknown examples surfacing on occasion. HH yelnif

http://www.vamworld.com/VAM

 

[huntsman53]

Still fairly new to this whole VAM thing, so they might not all be dead on.

While you have obtained a really nice collection of CC Morgan Dollars and your photography skills are excellent, I won't try to comment on whether or not you have correctly identified specific VAM varieties! It is hard to enough to match specific Die stages and characteristics to specific Morgan and Peace Dollars from specific Mints due to lighting and magnification problems but is much harder in trying to match any of these from photos. Besides, I no longer own any VAM Reference Books and don't subscribe to the VAM Newsletter and trying to match your' coins to what is listed on VAM World by flipping back and forth between one browser screen to another, makes it almost impossible to correctly identify specific VAM's. Now, if I had them in hand, I could correctly identify them within a few minutes and tell you whether they are earlier or later Die Stage specimens than anything listed! While VAM's used to be one of my areas of expertise, I got away from it when I sold my' coin collection about 6 years ago but I must say that you have spurred my interest in them again.

Thanks for sharing!


Frank

 

[huntsman53]

Thanks for the link huntsman53- that is quite interesting. It sounds like there are still unknown examples surfacing on occasion. HH yelnif

You are more than welcome for the link! VAM's used to be one area of my expertise when it came to Error and Variety Coins. I had pretty much given up searching for Errors and Varieties after I sold my' coin collection containing close to 15,000 Error and Variety coins and several thousand other coins about 6 years ago but have slowly gotten back into searching for and collecting a few since. I got disgusted with Coin Dealers and how they treat folks selling their' coins, with eBay Sellers selling the same Error and Variety coins that I had that were worth $100 or more each for only $5 to $10 and with the Error and Variety Coin Dealers and Collectors which have there own little cliche and very seldom let other folks in. When I sold my' coin collection, it contained many Morgan and Peace Dollar VAM's that were EDS (Early Die Stage or State) specimens, LDS (Late Die Stage or State) specimens some of which showed Die State Progression from the beginning of Die Cracks all the way to the Die's failure as well as several new discoveries that I had not had the time to send to Leroy Van Allen for attribution and inclusion in the VAM records. I remember showing two of the gentleman (I can no longer remember their' names) that started VAMworld my' collection of VAM's at the Dalton, Georgia Coin Show. They expressed interest in purchasing my' collection of VAM's but I told them that they would have to talk to Larry Briggs of Sovereign Entities Grading Service and the foremost Expert on Bust and Seated Liberty Coinage, as I had already promised to sell my' entire coin collection to him. While sitting with Larry at his' tables and awaiting for him to get done for the day so that he could look over my' collection to buy it, he had me show my' VAM collection to quite a few Coin Dealers and VAM Collectors as he knew that I had some never before seen VAM's. This made me feel very proud but not proud enough to continue searching and collecting coins at the time! I just got back into Dealing coins last year because of the interest my customers at Flea Markets expressed on wanting to purchase coins. While I have found a few VAM's since, I don't plan to sink the thousands of dollars into them as I once did!

I will leave you with this advice! Most of my' Morgan and Peace Dollar VAM's were cherrypicked uncirculated and unattributed coins that I paid mainly from $25 to $50 each. In doing this, I found both Morgan and Peace Dollar VAM's that were valued into the hundreds of dollars and a few into the thousands of dollars. I only purchased circulated Morgan and Peace Dollar VAM's when I knew that they were rare or unknown varieties. While there are a lot more VAM Collectors and Cherrypickers today than there was 6 or more years ago, uncirculated and unattributed VAM specimens can still be had at a quarter or even a tenth of their' true value. If I could do it, then so can you! Just keep the following in mind if you decide to search for and cherrypick for Morgan and Peace Dollar VAM's, that not all Morgan and Peace Dollars with Die Clashes and/or Die Cracks makes them VAM's.


Frank