Please Help! What Exactly Is A VAM?

What is a VAM?

First, good for you on doing the research before really delving into this area. I think I understand what you are asking so I will try to answer it and hope other members will chime in.

A VAM number identifies specific, agreed upon characteristics that create a variety. It is the same as the numbers that are assigned to the DDO, DDR, repunched dates of other coins. The beauty (and curse) of VAM numbers is that I believe the Morgan dollars is one of the best researched series so all the different varieties have specific numbers. Since I am not a VAM expert, I cannot tell you if there is a rhyme or reason to the numbering so I rely on VAMWorld and CCF when I attempt to identify the VAM variety.




Simplistically they are special to those who care about them...and there are many who do. IMHO it is an art form that requires patience and many collectors have multiple interests (myself included - sorry SsuperDdave!) so they do not always put the time into identifying the VAM.

The best advice I received in attributing a VAM number to a Morgan was to start with the date and mint mark. From there, you can narrow down the VAM number by the different features listed in VAM world.

Hope this helps!

to CCF! There are a few VAMmers on this site myself included. Collecting Morgans by die pairings ( VAM) is not for everyone and as SsuperDdave says, not for the faint of heart. You'll find that there are many VAMs that just jump out at you because they are so obvious and some are so minute that they drive you bonkers trying to identify. I strongly suggest you follow the instructions on VAMworld when attempting to attribute your Morgan and Peace dollars.

Will do Dave and thanks for the response AND the welcome!

Keep in mind, Anthony, that for all intents and purposes VAMming is still in its' infancy. It's the natural bent of any aficionado of any coin issue to want to categorize that issue by die variety; it's already been done for most pre-Morgan issues - copper Cents and Half-Cents, early Halves by Overton, early copper by Newcomb and others, early Dollars by Bolender and others, smaller silver by Fortin, Valentine and others....you get the idea.

Morgan dollars were first approached in this fashion by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Nobody else had attempted a task of this size - Morgans were minted by the hundreds of millions - before. It's very important to know that Mr. Van Allen is not only still with us (Mr. Mallis having already passed), but he is by universal acclaim still the only person who can designate a new VAM.

Since the last print publication of the VAM Encyclopedia, something close to half of all known VAMs have been identified. That number increases by the day, still. You need to become a member on the VAMworld Wiki - which is the central repository and gathering point of those who seek Morgan VAMs - and be well aware that you propose to become part of a work in progress. This is why you're not getting definitive answers on the topic; the definitions aren't set yet. If you choose to become part of this, you're going to be helping to create those definitions.

It is the single greatest collaborative research in the history of numismatics. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before - not on this scale - and the jury remains out as to whether it's even possible.

But we're trying.

So maybe you can help me with a question superdave. Say I have a Morgan with a date that has a known number of VAM's found on them- does this mean that all pieces from that date from that mint have all the same VAM's on them? Will my piece have those VAM's on them? If so, many of them are commonplace no? Now also would my purchase of a USB microscope (waiting for its arrival) help in seeing these VAM's or did I just waste my money? Finally, if some of these VAM's are so commonplace, if in fact they are, why are certain pieces rarer and thus more expensive then any of the same type of coins?
Thanks for the help!
A

Forgive the delay, Anthony; I work long shifts and weird hours, and go a couple days at a time without being able to access the forum.

One numbered VAM is one Morgan dollar variety. Its' features are unique to that date, mint mark and die pair.* Each date/MM combination uses the same numbering system, starting with VAM-1, so for instance an 1880-O VAM-2 has nothing whatsoever to do with an 1886-P VAM-2. And although some differing VAMs within one year issue might share characteristics - die pairs changed, and sometimes one obverse die (for example) was used with two reverse dies, so that would create two VAMs - no two different VAMs will ever be exactly alike.

Now, let's discuss values, keeping in mind that a coin's street value is a function of both supply and demand. Demand is why a 1909-S VDB Lincoln sells for so much, when they're seemingly a glut on the market. So it is with rarer VAMs. The 1878 issue year has a large fan base, and extensive research has been done over years on them. New VAMs are still being identified with regularity (one or two a year), but much of the knowledgebase for that year is relatively stable since their popularity has led to such complete research. The scarcer 1878's are known rarities and therefore command higher premiums among a large collector base, leading to expensive coins. Now, show me the rarest 1904-O VAM - there could only be two or three known - and I won't pay you as much as I might for that 1878 with 20 known. It's not in demand for me; there's too little competition.

I do not believe that there are as many as 25 individuals who are seriously attempting to collect a large portion of known VAMs. There are nearly 5000 known VAMs; that's a pretty big job.

* Originally, Messrs. Van Allen and Mallis codified their VAMs by features rather than specific die pairs. They had accurate information regarding the number of dies prepared - over 3500 pairs for the total Morgan mintage, not including 1921 - and given that hub production was at a level of accuracy previously unequalled in US coin production, I'm guessing they figured that identifying individual die pairs was a futile task. Nowadays, most of those doing serious VAM research are, in fact, identifying specific die pairs. This is leading to, in addition to the finding of new VAMs, the consolidation of old designations which turned out to be the same die pair, and expansion of others for which more than one die pair was identified.

Not all VAMs are nice enough to identify themselves with special, unique markings like die gouges, doubled lettering or odd date/mint mark locations. Sometimes, very small differences in tiny marks inside the devices of the die are all that differentiates two VAMs. This is where VAMming becomes tedious and academic, and the ultimate reward for that work will never be other than basic knowledge. The overwhelming majority of VAMs are unlikely to ever be worth more than "standard" Morgan prices.

There are a very few, however, which will fetch thousands in circulated condition. And it's a virtual certainty that every example of each of them has not yet been discovered.

@Westcoin, I had a pleasant discovery the other day going through my Morgans I purchased a long time ago. (pre VAMming days) It's a 1878-S VAM27 in maybe EF40 condition.