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 Replies: 9 / Views: 6,766 |
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Valued Member
United States
209 Posts |
I know there are a lot of different types of VAM'S, but what makes one more desirable or valuable then the other? Does the value of a Morgan silver dollar go up if it shows signs of VAM? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4944 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
141 Posts |
I am still very new to VAM's but it is my understanding that all Morgan and Peace dollars are VAM's. What makes them more valuable is the rarity of each VAM. I am sure SuperDave or one of the other VAM collectors will chime in and help you out with any more questions you might have. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3076 Posts |
What makes a coin/Vam more valuable? what kind of coin or furniture sparkle your eye? As noted, all Morgan or Peace dollars are VAMS... my meaning is simple,, due to the minting process and a hurried attempt...to reach the desired desired production numbers they found, they could NOT reach those goals..without many problems in there production procedures....There are many a reason+ for how and why these things happened but I want to stick to the main focus of your question..And that is YOU....What is it you want to collect and why?....As with any thing ts the interest of others, more so than the subjective listing rarity number...some coins are listed as extremely rare,,R&,, but now one seems to be interested in them..So there is What dollars in value? nothing over the usual value...Some coins to SOME.. are worth much much more...it is determined by there need for or in reference...of there entire collection...to have what few others have for the entire possible collection.... |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
the VAM's that add value are the ones with interest to make the price go up. There is no certain guide set in stone really. If its on one of the hand full of lists then usually they add a little value to allot of value, but there are others that aren't on any lists that still bring a premium and those are usually either a popular date (usually newly discovered VAM's) because everyone that has a complete set will now need that VAM to keep their set complete, or a specific type of variety like unusual clashing, doubling or even pitted reverse. It can be real difficult to know what coins will have the interest backing unless you are very active on the VAM scene Quote:I am still very new to VAM's but it is my understanding that all Morgan and Peace dollars are VAM's. That is correct, every Morgan and Peace dollar is a VAM as the term VAM is used to describe the catalog of Morgan and Peace dollar Varieties derived by the authors name, Leroy Van Allen and George A Mallis so every coin will be a specific VAM whether it be a new discovery or one already cataloged |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
The most expensive VAMs are those that are extremely hard to find and are that missing piece in a deep-pocketed collector's, Top 100, Hot 50, Hitlist 40, etc. registry set. There are other "popular" VAMs that are pricey and not extremely rare ... 1878 8TF VAM 9 (the first VAM)and the 1888-O VAM 4 Hot Lips are two examples ... a lot of this is due to marketing and a "cool factor". Then we have a few true R-7 VAMs that aren't that very "sexy" and aren't a part of a registry set. These may display prices in the $$$$ range, but they rarely sell at that figure. It all boils down to supply and demand. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
yeah I forgot to mention the registry sets. There are only a handful of VAM's that are valuable before the TPG's like PCGS and NGC recognize them and will label them as the VAM it is because until they recognize them they will not be included in any Registry sets |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3546 Posts |
Hello Caferacer311, I too am very new to the study of VAMs but am happy to share my humble opinion which is always open to constructive criticism if a more efficient method exists to obtain a stated endeavor. Until someone suggests a better mousetrap to assist in focusing in on the more valuable Morgan VAMs, for example, I personally find that the following URL, http://www.vamworld.com/Morgan+VAMs+By+Date is excellent to use as an overall summary guide for finding the correct Morgan dollar VAM in question. I personally use this page first whenever I encounter any new Morgan dollar. The beauty of this page is that it provides a visual tree trunk/branch-type hierarchy of all of the Morgan VAM mint dates and mint marks. A similar page exists for the Peace dollar VAMs. After the user locates the correct Morgan year and mint mark designation one can then drill down to determine the rarity factor, close-up photos, and important list designations (Hit List 40, Top 100 etc...). In several instances multiple sub-types of a specific year and mint mark may exist, so then it is just a matter of checking each sub-type individually until the exact VAM is located. The 1902-O Morgan VAMs, for example, contain nearly 120 sub-types which must be an unusually high number. One question that I have is how to quickly eliminate non-applicable Morgan VAMs when confronted with 120 different choices. I realize that with any hobby or trade certain ‘tricks of the trade' exist for quickly identifying any VAM so I am open for suggestions in case someone can show me a way to save some time. Thanks in advance, mdpmedia |
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New Member
Puerto Rico
10 Posts |
So basically every error I find is a VAM, Which (virtually) is everything, and the price over it is basically a poetic licence right? =-) =-) =-) =-) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
Quote:So basically every error I find is a VAM, Which (virtually) is everything, and the price over it is basically a poetic licence right? =-) =-) =-) =-) Did you have an opportunity to review the "sticky" at the top of the section? Give it a look and if you still have questions on VAMs, post them. The 101 version is: Every Morgan and Peace dollar is a VAM. A VAM (acronym for the two pioneers Van Allen and Mallis) is a catalogue number for the die pair used to mint the coin. There are still new ones found regularly (discovery pieces). As the dies were used, things happened to them (clashes, tooling, polishing, etc.) that changed the end product. There were also multiple die pairings used for each year/mint. It can be overwhelming at first, but if you give it some effort, the logic surrounding the catalogue process becomes clearer, and subsequently your eyes become sharper. But be warned ... comprehension may ultimately lead to addiction! |
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Replies: 9 / Views: 6,766 |
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Posted 10/19/2012 12:16 am
