1887 VAM 1B Sells For $3500 In E.f. 40.

15 yrs ago when I picked up my VAM 1b no one cared. Could buy them for common money. Go figure and keep on picking. In time people will understand. Varieties just add to interest and potential value.
Wow R7 VAM..Hot pickup. Good for you. Post it if ya can.

Check out my 1917 Mangy Buffalo just posted. G

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I picked up a 1921 S VAM 1L for $15.00 on ebay. I cant find a price history for it on Vamworld.

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That's a really neat VAM - nothing else like it exists in the Morgan series. It's not getting the attention it deserves at the moment. I cherrypicked the second one known, on ebay, while the thread bragging about the "unique" first was still active over at PCGS. That ticked him off a little.

At one point in 2006, there were only three, and I had two of them. They're pictured below. The first pic is the 2nd known, which I only got $70-ish for at auction. The second two pics are my other example, still in the collection. Note the huge double in front of Liberty's nose - Machine Doubling, I imagine. Does yours have it?

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!

Did I mention I was tracking an R-7 on ebay as we speak. That auction was to end this morning. I checked it last night and couldn't find it in my "watch" list. Checked the ended list and there it was. I clicked on it and it ended with a "Buy it Now". The listing did not have a "Buy it now" when I viewed it on Thursday night.

Here's the rest of the story ... the listing was for an 1878 8TF (looked XF-AU) with a start bid of $49.95 and no bids. I didn't want to bid to attract attention (a mistake in hindsight). This one sure looked like one of the "ultra-rare" 8TF VAMs ... 14.8 to be specific. I couldn't make out all the diagnostics from the pictures, but that eye spike was unmistakeable if you looked closely. I think someone else saw this too and contacted the seller with an offer. Since there were no bids, the seller could add a "buy it now" and let this person have it this way. Here's the link to the completed auction ... what do the rest of you VAM'ers think?


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...WA:IT&ih=014

SeatedNut,

I think the seller may have made a mistake, I'm sure there are people out there that would have paid more than $75 for that coin. His loss I guess.

I sent the seller a question:

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Dear notrux0,

I didn't notice a "Buy it Now" button on this auction on Thursday. Did you add that later? Thanks

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I'll let you know what they said. I'll also tell them the implications of their action.

I don't know how I missed that unless I haven't been spending quite enough time on ebay as I thought I had, since my wreck my computer time has been limited but I have to agree with your attribution on this one and would have been a fine addition to any VAM collection. Now I just want to know where all these 1878 specialists are coming from, a year ago it was me and one other guy (from PCGS forum) duking it out over all the 1878 VAM's and no one else seemed to be interested at all in them (lucky for me he is kinda cheap) and I got a few nicens but now it has gotten so crazy I can't even afford to play anymore, EF pieces are selling for what graded unattributed MS-63 coins did a year ago. I saw a common long nock raw sell for what a graded MS-64 unattributed used to sell for and in my opinion it would have a tough time getting 64 at PCGS or NGC. But as far as VAM's go there are still plenty out there because not everyone knows what a VAM even is, I remember when I first heard the word VAM and I came here asking for answers on some of my coins (come to find out I had some pretty nice ones already and didn't know it) so some people just see a Morgan dollar graded a specific grade and thats it where others see something quite different in that piece of plastic and it seems more people with the money to play the VAM game are studying up on what VAM's are actually collectible and which ones may become in the future. I wish I still had all of my 1878 VAM's I used to have now because I could sell them for 3 times the amount I sold them for on todays market with all these 1878 VAMers coming out of the woodwork

As promised ... here's the exchange:
Me

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I didn't notice a "Buy it Now" button on this auction on Thursday. Did you add that later? Thanks

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Mike

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Yes, with no activity on coin I added BIN. Thanks for looking Mike

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Me

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Mike, I wish you would have waited it out. Your coin was an ultra-rare VAM 14.8 and was worth at between $500~$1000. I was waiting for the bidding war on Saturday morning. The eye spike was the giveaway. Sorry man. The buyer is an 1878 VAM expert who I've battled with in the past. Check her feedback for other 1878 purchases.

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Mike

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This has happened before, I don't check many of my morgans for VAMs, I let that up to the bidders. This happens when you play the sniper game--you snooze you lose. I do this as a hobby and since I made a small profit, I am happy with sale. Mike

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Read into it whatever you like.