ChildOfTheWheat, if you were sure you wouldn't have to ask. The thing about VAMming is you have to be a bit tenacious and thick skinned. Most VAMs are not easy to identify, and it often takes several attempts.
It isn't as easy as filling an album by date and mint, but I find it rewarding, and a good excuse to spend more time with the coins.
Let me give you one quick lesson on mint marks. They are stamped into the die after the rest of the die is prepared. This leaves a lot of room for variations in which stamp was selected, and where the stamping was applied. Variations include shifted high/low, left/right, and tilted left/right. This information is more evident when the picture of the mint mark includes surrounding features. Take a look at the Mint mark photos at the top of the
VAM listing page and you'll see what I mean.
http://www.vamworld.com/1880-S+VAMsOther areas that have unique identifiers are polish lines around the bow above the mint mark, polish lines in the wings and tail and sometimes even polish lines inside the Goddess of Liberty's ear.
Large full coin shots of the obverse and reverse can be helpful, for others may see things you might have missed. But it isn't easy to take good photos of an entire Morgan, and when done, it often loses detail when posting. Sometimes the second problem can be circumvented by showing several photographs of areas of interest.
A good way to see what areas others are looking at is to simply peruse the
VAM identification pages.
http://www.vamworld.com/Morgan+VAMs+By+Date Some dates and mints are heavily influenced by die cracks, clashed dies, rusty dies, over striking, doubled features, or combinations of all aforementioned.
The 1880-S is very much viewed through the lens of date doubling. That sucks for you because it isn't easy.
To compound matters, I will not be a lot of help, as my expertise is an entirely different date and mint.
But if you want to continue, I would suggest starting with a photo that includes details surrounding the mint mark.
And when I have no idea what I am doing, I list all VAMs for the series and cross each one off the list as it is eliminated.
Other times I just put it back in the box and look for an easier one.
Good luck, and remember to do it for fun. It isn't a school assignment.
Posted 10/20/2015 11:18 am
