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 Replies: 21 / Views: 4,695 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
Could anyone suggest a book by title that would help me better understand Morgan VAMs. I tried Google but had no luck.
Thx Jim
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2600 Posts |
I am sure sorry that this ended up here three times. I Kept getting an error message after trying to send an email without enough postings.
Jim
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Valued Member
United States
223 Posts |
Comprehensive Catalog and Encylopedia of Morgan & Peace dollars, by Leroy Van Allen & A. George Mallis. This seems to be the Bible for Vams. But just like the Bible every time you read it you can come up with a different enterpitation. There are also a couple of online sites that can be helpful. Vamworld.com & Ashmore.com for updates. Welcome to what I think is the most fustrating part of dollar collecting. Large bottle of Excedrin also helps. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by stmpcol
Comprehensive Catalog and Encylopedia of Morgan & Peace dollars, by Leroy Van Allen & A. George Mallis. This seems to be the Bible for Vams. But just like the Bible every time you read it you can come up with a different enterpitation. There are also a couple of online sites that can be helpful. Vamworld.com & Ashmore.com for updates. Welcome to what I think is the most fustrating part of dollar collecting. Large bottle of Excedrin also helps.
and you put that so poeticaly LOL  good references as stmpcol had stated |
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Forum Dad
 United States
24175 Posts |
quote:
I am sure sorry that this ended up here three times.
No problem, I took care of them. Just for future reference, as long as there are no posts other than your original post, you can delete the thread yourself by clicking on the  .  |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Just to clarify things a little bit - the Encyclopedia was written by the men whose initials form the anagram VAM. That should give you an idea of its' value and accuracy. The amount of information about Morgan and Peace dollars contained in that book is incredible - after reading it, you will not need to ask another question about how, when or why concerning Morgans. You want the Fourth Edition. Ashmore.com has a listing of all VAM's identified since the Fourth Edition was published - Leroy Van Allen, co-author of the Encyclopedia and the "VA" in VAM, is still identifying and naming new VAMs today. Vamworld is a cooperative Wiki effort of many serious VAM collectors, among them Rob Joyce and Jack Lee (ever seen a PCGS Morgan with the Jack Lee pedigree? That's him.). It's a work in progress, with the most up-to-date information on the VAM's listed. That page is open on my computer whenever I'm at the keyboard. Between those three, and the local fanatics (including yours truly), your questions are covered. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by SuperDave
Vamworld is a cooperative Wiki effort of many serious VAM collectors, among them Rob Joyce and Jack Lee (ever seen a PCGS Morgan with the Jack Lee pedigree? That's him.). It's a work in progress, with the most up-to-date information on the VAM's listed. That page is open on my computer whenever I'm at the keyboard.
I once thought it was the same "Jack Lee" also but I askewd him and he is not the famous Jack Lee that had the all time greatest Morgan set he is just another Morganmaniac like the rest of us and he happens to not only like Morgans he likes Morgan VAM's. Now to answer your question: the book everyone mentioned is a have to have for any VAM collector, that being said it can be very overwhelming and if you decide to specialize in a certain date or mint mark of Morgan VAM's then the books get easier to understand and more about that specific date or mint mark. We have a collector here that collects only 1921 VAM's and me myself I collect 1878 VAM's (there are over 200 1878 VAM's just from Philadelphia, not to mention the S or CC mint marks). Just about any question you may have we can usually look around and find an answer for you if you can get good pictures of the coin for us and sometimes with just a good explanation will suffice but usually we will need pictures. So do not ever be afraid to ask any VAM question on this board because thats what we come here for, to spread the knowledge between one another |
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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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Replies: 21 / Views: 4,695 |
Posted 12/20/2006 6:29 pm
