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Valued Member
United States
254 Posts |
Great question, Jim- I've often wondered the same thing myself. I knew about the book because I've heard it mentioned so many times, but I didn't know about the websites- very useful! I took out a few of my Morgans to take a look, and although I will need to inspect them all more carefully, I found one with a jaw cootie! 1879-S VAM 36 according to vamworld.com. Neat! I think I'll order the book now.  I'm unclear as to how the value is affected, though. I haven't seen the book to see how it is laid out, but I'm hoping to find a VAM "flowchart" somewhere. That is, with a specific date and mintmark, the first thing to look for is X... if X is present then find X2... etc. If X is not present, look for Y... etc. Seems like it would streamline the identification process a bit. If anyone knows of such a resource, please let me know! Regards, ~neuron |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
neuron the Encyclopedia is not laid out like that because there is over 500 pages of VAM's and information on Morgans and Peace dollars and there would be no way to focus on each and every detail of each VAM without it being a million pages long, that is why I said to focus on one specific date or mint mark and get the specialty books for that specific thing and then it breaks it down allot more. In the encyclopedia there may be 15 or 20 VAM's per page just describing what attributes it has, in the specialty books there is one page per VAM and shows pictures of each attribute and sometimes (like some of the 1878 VAM books) you have one page for Obverse and one page for Reverse for each specific VAM. I have 4 books with just 1878 VAM's, one for 7/8TF one for 8TF and one for 78-S and the VAM-100 book. There isn't a specialty book for 1878-P VAM's yet because there are over 300 VAM's just for 1878-P Morgans and it would be rather large also, so I have to just look through each book and kind of eliminate VAM's to see which VAM some coins are Edited by Bryan1315
12/21/2006 12:07 pm
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Valued Member
United States
254 Posts |
I see, thanks for the clarification. Sounds like a lot of work to be a VAM collector. On a related note, which of the TPG services would you say are particularly versed in identifying and attributing VAM varieties? Oh, and if I'm understanding things correctly... every Morgan or Peace dollar should technically have a VAM attribution, right? That is, so long as the die set used to create the coin are sufficiently different from other die sets to note differences. As was mentioned there are still new VAMs being identified... presumably there is a finite number of VAMs equal to the the number of die sets plus changes to those sets over time (e.g., clashes, wear, cracks, etc.). Just want to make sure I'm understanding it all. Regards, ~neuron |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
ANACS attributes each and every VAM that is known to date, the other two only attribute a handful. You are correct each and every Morgan is a VAM from VAM1 which is just a regular strike all the way to VAM 200+ for 1878-P, it is just the different attributes that differentiate the different VAM's |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
I have heard the Q.David Bowers Book on Morgans Published I think By Whitman is Good , what do you all think
Edited by scoutjim99
12/21/2006 1:42 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
that is one I have never heard of scoutjim
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I stand corrected, Bryan. He once said something to me in conversation (I never broached the subject) that hinted something different.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
SuperDave well he could have been telling me a story also just because he didn't want to be known by me, I don't know
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
You may also try the Top 100 VAM's book, there is also a Top 50 (or so) for Peace dollars, and one for only 1878 dollars. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2600 Posts |
Thx everyone for a lot of good advise. I have ordered the Van Allen/Mallis book and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. I really appreciate the help. Jim
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Pillar of the Community
United States
603 Posts |
Where did you order the book from? I have truied my local book stores and they can't even locate it on their database. and if you have received the book by now, is it helpful? I just want to figure out what different VAM's I have(if any) before I try to sell my duplicate date & MM morgans. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
cpfull, lets see in order, I Googled the complete title and it was found listed on a book dealers list in Canada. Man they are good! Yes I have received it and am reading it currently. Without a doubt it has been extremely helpful. If you have a Barnes and Noble in your area you might try them. I cannot remember if they searched it by Title or authors, or both but they also found a used copy that they would order in for me. I don't have the ref. # they gave me anymore but I am sure they could find it again, for you. I believe that Superdave mentioned that if possible try for the third edition. Mine is a first ed. but that is fine by me. Hope this is helpful. Jim
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Pillar of the Community
United States
603 Posts |
I tried B&N, they searched by title and authors, and got nothing. I will try Amazon and Borders to see if I can get it. |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
They don't call him superdave for nothing.  |
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Replies: 21 / Views: 4,697 |
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Posted 12/21/2006 12:00 pm
