1879-O Morgan Breen's 5526 - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 9 / Views: 2,120
LadyKerri New Member United States 7 Posts	Posted 02/02/2006 10:14 pm Does anyone know what Breen's says about an 1879-O Morgan? I believe the entry would be catagorized as the 5526. I don't have a Breen's and have been trying to find on with no luck. I have two 1879-O Morgans with missing curls above the 8 in the date. Can someone please help me in this matter? Thanks! Report this Post to the Staff

Susanlynn9 Forum Mom United States 5877 Posts	Posted 02/03/2006 08:46 am Breen #5526 discusses the 1879 Morgans minted in Philadelphia. 5527-5529 numbers are assigned to New Orleans strikes. 5528 and 5529 are repunched mint marks. In looking in the VAM book, most of the varieties are doubled dates. There is no mention of missing curls above the 8 that I could find. You should probably post a picture. Report this Post to the Staff
ezsellingsolutions Valued Member United States 110 Posts	Posted 02/09/2006 9:40 pm Susan, thanks so much for helping Kerri on this one. Here's a picture. Image: 79OMorgan5.jpg 51.21 KB As you can tell, the picture is of the obverse of the coin at the date/hair curl area below the bust of the profile. This is the best detailed image we could get. (I think it's about time for a new digi-cam.) Thanks again for helping her! Report this Post to the Staff
Susanlynn9 Forum Mom United States 5877 Posts	Posted 02/10/2006 09:29 am I'm lost on this one. Maybe Becky will have an idea. Report this Post to the Staff
SsuperDdave Moderator United States 23522 Posts	Posted 02/10/2006 10:18 am Neither the Van Allen book nor the updates mention this feature. So, I went through the first page of Heritage archives. Of fifty coins presented, all having sold since last November, 9 had the same lack of detail to a greater or lesser extent than the coin pictured here. I then found half a dozen similar coins at ebay on the first page of 1879-O's. Of course, I'm not Leroy Van Allen, but I'd call this a die (or dies) marker rather than a VAM. Then again, that's part of what a VAM is. If it becomes a VAM, it certainly will be a rather common one. Report this Post to the Staff
mark kimpton New Member United States 4 Posts	Posted 02/14/2006 10:22 pm LadyKerri, What you are seeing is the result of heavy polishing. The polishing of the dies (often after clashing) results in a lack of detail that can be seen as flat areas within the hair details. This is also a helpful way to tell if a proof like coin is from the earliest strikes from a pair of dies or the result of recent polishing on worn dies. Mark Report this Post to the Staff
LadyKerri New Member United States 7 Posts	Posted 02/15/2006 7:48 pm Thank you Mark. Does this bring any type of premium to this coin? Does anyone know of a book store that I can buy a good book from that covers VAMs or varieties? Report this Post to the Staff
Bryan1315 Bedrock of the Community United States 14454 Posts	Posted 03/16/2006 8:34 pm Your coin brings no premium. The 2 VAM books I have for morgans is "Encyclopedia of morgan & Peace dollars by Leroy C. Van Allan & A. George Mallis and one on the 8TF which is called 1878 Morgan dollar 8-TF Attribution Guide 3rd Edition Updated and Revised written by Jeff Oxman & Les Hartnett. Both of these books have been valuable to me in looking for specific VAM's if you only buy one of the 2 for morgans get the Encyclopedia of morgans and Peace dollars because it covers all the vams known and the other one just shows vams for the 8TF only Report this Post to the Staff
Mad4Morgans New Member United States 31 Posts	Posted 03/19/2006 4:46 pm quote: Originally posted by LadyKerri Thank you Mark. Does this bring any type of premium to this coin? Does anyone know of a book store that I can buy a good book from that covers VAMs or varieties? Yes, you can get the Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace dollars by Leroy C. Van Allen & A. George Mallis about anywhere but you can get that and many of the attribution guides at the https://www.Ashmore.com VAM UPDATE website straight from Leroy Van Allen. He sold the rights to the book to a publishing company but updates the newer discoveries beyond the original book in attribution guides and on the Ashmore website. The attribution guides are well worth the money if you really want to know what your VAMs might be. The VAM Encyclopedia itself is a MUST read. I has all kinds of information and phtos to help attribute Morgan and Peace dollar Varieties. It gives history, the process of minting Morgan dollars, Counterfeit Detection ect. There is also text and about 2000 new listing and photo images at Ashmore as well beyond the attribution guides. As far as your coin, the feature you are showing with the seperation of the hair curls is from die polishing. There was one noteqorth VAM with overpolished hair curls but I can't think of which one it was at this time. Hope this answers your questions for now. Report this Post to the Staff
Mad4Morgans New Member United States 31 Posts	Posted 03/19/2006 4:55 pm OH and by the way...If there's anyone who KNOWS all about Die Clashing it's Mark Kimpton who replied above. I consider him the EXPERT on clashed die variety Morgan dollars. He just put out an outstanding book concerning them called the "Elite Clashed Morgan dollars". You may have Super CD's in your collection without even knowing of them and if you do know about them and what to look for, this could add SIGNIFICANT values to what you think is an ordinary coin. Like the VAM Encyclopedia, the attribution guides and other VAM book, Mark Kimpton's book shares a valuable place in my reference library. Report this Post to the Staff
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