Last year when I submitted some 2 dozen
Morgan dollars to ANACS, my budget did not allow the additional fees required for
VAM identification.
In hindsight I am now thinking I may have some type of
VAM variety that may have a added premium above its non-variety counterpart.
Below are 2 ANACS certified 1878cc Morgan's, graded MS-62 and VF25, and need some help here as I could not find a exact match on Vamworld, and others may have the same type of varieties in their collection.
Let me start off with my self education on VAMs started when I first learned about Silver Dollar Varieties in 1998 and was offered a trade of my Overton catalog of Bust Half Dollars for a 1991 ~ 4th edition
VAM catalog.
After locating die varieties not listed in the
VAM catalog, I was advised to contact someone named (if memory serves) "Ash", and in doing so, was advised that not all varieties make it into the catalog and chose die varieties of interest.
Last year members in this forum helped me out with my sister's late husband's Morgans, and both coins here are from that lot.
It has been about 13 years since my contact with Ash and don't remember how contact was made, and since then numerous die varieties have been listed as
VAM varieties of interest, and thought I would post both coins in question here as they may have been struck with the same obverse die, but the reverses are from different dies.
The MS62 obverse shows the tip of the 4th star missing (that seems to be popular) and the VF-25 shows the same type of star tip missing, along with a small
Cud (extra metal) on the 1st "8" that may have been caused by a long die life. On the MS62 reverse, I notice a short nock variety with die scratches under the 6th T/F, a clearer, wider "c c" and what looks like pitting from a rusted die in the "IGWT" area and the bottom of the "O" of "OF" is deformed. [ I posted a photo of a 1921 pitted Morgan from Vamworld for comparison of what a rusted die strike looks like].
Below the 1921 pitted reverse photo are photos of
what I believe are the same rusted die strikes. The last 2 photos show both "cc" mint marks as the VF25 looks more like "oo" instead of "cc" and someone can advise me the different types (small, med., large) both coins are. Besides the [oo] looking mint mark on the VF25 reverse, it is a long nock variety..
High resolution photos are available for further study if needed.
Please advise if you believe it is worth the additional cost to return either coin back to ANACS for variety designation.
THANKS
[1921 pitting from rusted die - for comparison only]
[1878cc pitted reverse area]
[deformed "O"]
Note; The white arc's are reflections of the LED lighting I made to fit over my camera lense for photos that I need to zoom in. Most the photos were taken at night with no other lighting, only the LEDs on the camera.
Posted 03/06/2013 10:58 pm
