The Seven Topics Of VAMming That Merit No Discussion

actually both of your comments/views are quite understandable...with every commodity there seems to be a list from all around groceries to the top best whatcamacallit's.. and since those lists are not exploited and very few times mentioned HERE...I think we are safe from advertising and the site runs strictly on the premise of VAM's alone...these other issues may be something one wishes to buy into or choose not to..And like you say just simply collecting and learning about them for themselves......
Now I must admit at some point in time one must acknowldege there will always be others organizing things or commodities which the masses are supposed to be longing for...... still its which game we choose to play.....will always be our choice....

I was unaware that there were costs associated with wikis.... so I have learned something here....

I could name a whole heck of a lot more than 15 things in my day that are free.....I imagine that it all depends on our differing life styles and interests..... I guess that I should feel sort of sorry for you Russ, if you can't get past seven........I'll say a little prayer for you though buddy...

You must be a masochist Russ....I can't imagine even wanting to eat there anyway.




I didn't know you were into bikes Russ....I love bikes... (I'll bet that you are a Schwinn guy aren't you)?

Lighten up Russ, it is Christmas time, and I am joking around with you...can't you tell?




Consider yourself a very, very lucky person there Russ.... Most folks are paying 40%+ in combined fed & state income tax, and try 10.5% for local sales tax....




Everyone realizes this....who reelects these people though? Incumbents feel neither fear or loyalty to the citizens that they so soon forget about.....Congress is not a job or a duty, it is a very lucrative career, and after that a very comfy retirement....everybody realizes that....we let it happen because we don't take any action to reverse it.

Collectors need to take charge of their own hobby.....Collectors do not need dealers to survive, but dealers need collectors for that purpose, so why is the balance of power in the wrong hands?

the world has operated like this, its always been about money...the thing is when one likens to take up a hobby, its usually not perceived on the whole that it still is business minded..and operated...Every business has an overhead or they couldn't operate and employ any one..we all know this and what is really the heart of the matter in my feeble mind, is: while this is a hobby, one would like to believe that we are not being taken to the cleaners because we like this hobby....we see many making a fourtune and we would like to think if we find something of value it REPRESENTS this value on some level..weather wholesale or retail levels...My meaning is simple in that if we choose to partake in a hobby. and not that its wasted money and time for our enjoyment.. one could take the family to the new movie(ENTERTAINMENT) and blow $50 plus all in the name of entertainment or the cost of occupying our time for our enjoyment...
It is my hope that this hobby is not in this classification but one has to wonder.....for in the short tern there was never a profit, but over time as the collector base grew there was less in the open market to be had so there was at least a recoup of the initial cost, and many times there was a profit, yet it was 10 years plus...to see the return/profit....
SO IT IS WITH VAMMING....one would like to buy/find reasonably priced coins that would still be worth what you paid rather than buying into a hype that has no return or is worth less than what you pay and assume its the "price/cost" of pursuing a hobby....
Vamming is one of the most indepth studies I have encountered..It has so many facets, AS MorgansDad and Oz has mentioned...it takes much study.......one wonders if its worth the time.....Yet at the same time....I don't need to spend $100K to go to college to figure out whats going on....or expect I have a job after 5 years of college to get a entry level job......and this is true today..while education is so important in any field.....one can still apply themselves in this field of forensic Numismatics online..for free.....the cost is the examples you find with the knowledge you have gained...And as My good friend
Russ so put it....I make mistakes and then at times I find something cool.....it takes time..your time to research what vamming is and people like OZ, Superdave, SeatedNut,Zee and Russ and the list goes on and one......to point out(sorry I know I missed many names I would like to add) Its a complex subject...if your in it for the money then you have your hands full, thinking I will just walk into any shop buy the coin and get rich..there are not enough people with all that money to play the big money game......but there are still coins.....and they are still out there to find....with members studies and the advice given at sites such as these, knowledge will grow.........and if one looks at some of the "hot lists" many many are too common, and some that no one could possibly find....
THESE LISTS are not definitive of what vamming is about......it was a few peoples idea of what "common errors" within the Morgan series could be found to generate and expand that interest....
CONECA lists pennies nickles dimes and so much more..Many collect foreign errors also....But this is our area, of interest....it is now in a state of flux....a soon to come change.......in our eyes we think what will become of us or our interests.......yet

I would propose......these coins are still well over 100 years old....these coins will not change from what they are....they will however be more understood as time goes by...by those who study and collect them......you won't collect them with out studying them...
SO it is up to us where this leads......in ignorance by following the say soer's or with knowledge..OR understanding by our combined studies....

since I choose not to buy slabbed Vams or pay full retail prices, I choose my own poison. when, where and how much of a fix() I need...I always look at the coin first and then see if its a VAM I might want....NEVER the other way around...So no I don't feel I'm helping a dealer out in any way or feel I am promoting any hype....I'm simply saying there has always been the sharks and the minnows
I choose not to be ignorant yet still not the shark......I choose the hobby while seeing the surroundings or getting sucked into the black hole...

I once had a respected vammer/dealer ask me what was all the angst about vammer/dealers that he kept seeing in recurring posts? My reply was "the issue is about transparency or rather the lack of it. Look at all of the various facets of this issue and the dominate theme is always too much self serving interest or outright conflict of interest. Perhaps, this has always be so, but with the Internet and the ability to chat with other like minded people, this issue keeps popping up.

There may be, but that will be one conspiracy that I will never know unless someone in the know turns on them because I will never be asked into those little tight circles because my pockets aren't deep enough to play with the big boys for them to even know my name. Usually the way you get known is because you become a threat, and that is something I will never be to the ones that have disposable income to just throw at any coin they may want. I have to choose and sometimes even wait until I can afford a specific coin and just hope no one else purchases it before I have a chance to do so. I have lost quite a few because of this but that's the price you pay for not having the money to back you in your interests at any specific time

No, I did not mean it exactly like that....not a director of operations so to speak, but rather an unwitting figurehead that the dealers feel benefaction is due for some undisclosed purpose.




That is what I like to hear (and see), as it just so happens that there are currently three or four threads with zero replies (asking for that exact thing).....If I possessed the ability to answer those threads, I certainly would, but I don't, so I won't.....If those requests focused on a different year, I might feel a bit more comfortable in taking some stabs at attribution, but 1881 (it seems to me) is the most difficult year (1921 excluded).....Maybe you could hone you skills on those threads? I would absolutely hate to refer someone elsewhere, when I am sure we have the expertise right here to reply to requests for attribution assistance.... Lab 201 is open.....