The Seven Topics Of VAMming That Merit No Discussion

"These are the seven topics. The very premise of Vamming: Real or just another way to over-hype and over value coins?"

My answer to this one is simple. Vamming is real. It is a subset of Morgan dollar collecting. To truly understand the differences in VAM classifications, and actual dies is an awesome thing as far as I am concerned.

Sure, to some folks it is all about making money.

But a true hobbyist does not let that get in the way of their true passion. Numismatic Forensics.

But to answer your question directly, it seems that the over-hype crowd is winning.

very interesting....but we who ask....who..will be winning.....LOL
and it is for you and I to ask....is it for the vamming.. or for the money....The vamming is the question.... yet to is the money you are asking about, and TOO I AM NOT DENOUNCING YOU but rather welcome your contribution to this discussion....it is the question in the balance.....between those that are average collectors and those who are dealers....some have been in the game a long time, and many are realizing there is some kind of game to play, besides the coin and value by it self...or the
WONDER of the SECRET VALUE OF THE VAM.........AND IN TRUTH......
they are all vams........so there is no
SECRET................they all have errors, by which some are more coveted by some, and not the masses by which one would seek to promote the over valude to the common uninformed individual.........

If enough of us would spend the price of one nice coin on an appropriate camera kit, we could make most of these arguments invalid in a year or two. Heck, the same guy shooting the pics wouldn't have to be the one studying them, if the resolution were sufficient.

Look what Norm's doing with a prehistoric digicam and duct tape, fer cryn' out loud.

$1000 worth of camera and a $500 Brunel microscope would turn anyone into a Morgan researching giant.

The composition of your words leave little doubt as to your affiliation, despite Aladin's "credendo vides"...

I might think that a person could take the number of prolific posters on the dealer site, and triple or quadruple that number to take into account the lurkers.

Is vamming real? Most definitely. It is cutting edge numismatic forensics.
Are vams over valued and over-hyped? This depends on who you ask. All it takes is for two people to agree to the value of a coin when buying.
Now, if you ask me, the answer is way over valued. Part of the reason for this is the success of registry sets appealing to the competitive nature of collectors and their vanity. Just because some people paid big money for these coins doesn't necessarily imply when these coins are resold that they will retain their value or that there will be other VAM collectors there willing to purchase them at those prices.

Like any other specialized hobby, there is no "line." There is only a very gradual area where black fades into white. A case could be made that if you only ever buy one single Morgan because of its' specific variety, then you're a VAMmer.

Does it require the attitude of a scholar to be a VAMmer? No, not at all, but it puts the onus on those of a more scholarly bent - and more importantly, those whose actions direct the future of VAMming - to make things easier and more attractive to those who don't want to become encyclopedic in their knowledge.

VAMming must advance beyond the "scholars only" stage before it can reach any level of "popularity."