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81 Morgan... Did I Find My First VAM?

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Author Previous TopicReplies: 13 / Views: 1,884Next Topic  
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rynegold's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  08:22 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add rynegold to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
So I have this coin... and taking a close look at the date, see this:

81-Morgan...-Did-I-Find-My-First-VAM?


81-Morgan...-Did-I-Find-My-First-VAM?

81-Morgan...-Did-I-Find-My-First-VAM?

81-Morgan...-Did-I-Find-My-First-VAM?

Is it not this variant?

http://www.vamworld.com/1881-P+VAM-9



If true, I'm thinking this is fun!
Edited by rynegold
04/24/2015 08:34 am
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 Posted 04/24/2015  08:43 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add eagle_eye_18 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Looks like it to me! Nice find!
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Cascade's Avatar
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7390 Posts
 Posted 04/24/2015  08:49 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Cascade to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Looks like it however in the future please shoot / rotate your images to standard orientation. Especially with an 1881 which looks the same upside down messing with which 8 you think your seeing:)

To be fair however I'm mostly mad at myself for not realizing it before I went searching
Edited by Cascade
04/24/2015 08:59 am
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SsuperDdave's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  09:17 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add SsuperDdave to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I was about to say you were wrong until I realized you posted the 8 upside-down. So you're probably right; that 8 is a rather prominent feature. The location and tilt of the date helps to confirm, and you'll have to check the other features mentioned in the VAM writeup locally as they're not visible here.

Not to be picky, but you found your first VAM with the first Morgan you bought. They're all VAMs. You've attributed your first VAM here.
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rynegold's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  09:27 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add rynegold to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Ah ha! attributed! and yes I didn't think of "how" I photoed that digit, just did so as that's where the damage to the die is located. It is damage no?, not doubled die? same story on the 1 ?
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SsuperDdave's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  09:42 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add SsuperDdave to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It's true doubling. My theory on this one - and a couple others like it - is that the digit on the punch broke when it was hammered into the die. The spot you consider damage is damage, but damage to the punch. A new punch was used to finish the digit(s), causing the doubling.
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rynegold's Avatar
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249 Posts
 Posted 04/24/2015  09:47 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add rynegold to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks Dave! you know I've often wished for a computer simulated vid showing "how" dies were assembled/used unless there's a real one somewhere. I get confuzzled about how date punches were deployed etc. Is there a site somewhere that addresses this question?

tia, mitch

edit: here's the only pic of a morgan hammer die I can find...

http://coins.ha.com/c/lot-image.zx?...0&id=3501786
Edited by rynegold
04/24/2015 09:55 am
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Cascade's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  10:02 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Cascade to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I'm sure coop can make you a grade school style flip-book type video with his wonderful photos
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 Posted 04/24/2015  10:42 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Chute72 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
SsuperDdave, your ideas concerning the punch make sense. I have often wondered if they were not fully aware of the "chipped punch" beacause some of them seem to appear on more than one VAM.
And rynegold, there is still time to back out. But if you continue, your life will never be the same.
Edited by Chute72
04/24/2015 10:44 am
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 Posted 04/24/2015  12:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add GoldenIslesCoins to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Great to see all these VAM people over here. Have fun and keep up the great work. I love to VAM Morgan dollars. It gets faster as you do more !!
Rest in Peace
dave700x's Avatar
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10625 Posts
 Posted 04/24/2015  8:41 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add dave700x to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
That date digit doubling is some of the most pronounced I've seen. Very nice VAM and welcome to the insanity. Another one assimilated.

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SsuperDdave's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  8:57 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add SsuperDdave to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
I have often wondered if they were not fully aware of the "chipped punch" beacause some of them seem to appear on more than one VAM.


I lean more towards it being a more-common-than-we-know moment of impact thing. They overpunched it with a good one, after all. Many times I suspect the second punch was good enough to obliterate the evidence of the first. These are some pretty tiny things to be punching into steel, even if it hasn't been hardened to strike coins yet.
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rynegold's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  9:08 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add rynegold to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Ok... I'm slowly making a movie in my mind. I now see what Dave is telling me: the newly "punched" # is a MALE die.So the mint worker/die sinker is/has put a male ( bas-relief stamp) "punch w/ a number on it he want's to use and "re-punches" the date. These # punches/stamps are totally relieved, i.e. NO fat left in the field (or not much) and then they are struck/hammered into the by the worker, down into the existing die to renumber/redefine a particular #. Very cool.
My only question now is "did they anneal the die before doing this operation? If not this darn poor metalurgy! No wonder there were so many cracks (uh, VAMS etc...) in our beloved Morgans!


Here's the sort of stamp that was used w/ FAT ON!

81-Morgan...-Did-I-Find-My-First-VAM?
Edited by rynegold
04/24/2015 9:12 pm
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Cascade's Avatar
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 Posted 04/24/2015  9:17 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Cascade to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
You must remember those dies were used to the point of failure in most cases then they just slapped a new one on. So the ones with all the cracks and clashes were made in the latter half of a dies life. The closer to failure, yhe more prominent the features. The mints were pounding out so many morgans you could compare them to a modern day m&m factory in terms of production. A total blow and go philosophy
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