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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,577 |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I've acquired a 1921-P Morgan. I know - what a surprise, eh?  It shows no obvious markers for the easily-attributed 1921-P VAMs - no pitting, no die cracks, normal reeding. The coin was acquired for the quality of its' surfaces - it looks like an easy Prooflike to me, and that's pretty uncommon for a 1921. Definitely a value-added feature for this year. It's my intent to submit it to ANACS in the hopes of getting that Prooflike designation on a slab. The trouble is, I can't hold a Morgan in my hand without wanting to attribute it. So, I'm inviting you to join me in the process of attributing a VAM with no obvious markers. I'm going to journal the process in this thread over the next week or two, as I have the time to devote to it. We'll also be touching on photography and microimaging with my less-than-stellar QX5, so there will also be a bit of postprocessing using the Gimp. Please ask any questions which occur regarding anything I discuss here - that's the purpose of this thread. First, the coin:   Shooting notes: These shots were done using the factory 18-55 lens with my Canon 450D. Not everybody has the resources to sink $500 into a dedicated Macro lens, and I've been exploring the capabilities of the kit lens. Seems acceptable to me - what do you think? Both shots were f/8, ISO 400, lens zoomed to 55mm. The obverse needed 1/30, the reverse 1/50 using only a standard table lamp with a 100w-equivalent Compact Fluorescent Soft White bulb. The resulting images were 1020 pixels in diameter, more than large enough for any reasonable need. I used the camera's Tungsten white balance preset, and ended up having to desaturate the Yellow channel by 40% in the Gimp to achieve the correct color. Yes, I could have just shot a piece of paper for a Custom white balance, but I'm lazy. Next post: Discussing what we do and don't see in the coin. It's a really fascinating piece. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2669 Posts |
Great idea for a topic, SD.. and she's a beauty. I'll be taking notes.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2541 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2130 Posts |
Could this be VAM-1 17 berry rev.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5611 Posts |
Nice cameo appearing obverse,I see a D reverse, is that a dot above the "B" in E pluribus? I also am not sure I see the "M" on the reverse in the bow, is it there? Good call on the 17-berry 1R, Also possible 1R doubled letter(S) in states, for more inspection, I would like to have some very close up pictures of both the obverse and the reverse, great idea, thanks for sharing, Mike....
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1219 Posts |
Hi Dave, sounds like you've got a well planed attack on this one. I'll have to put aside my personal distaste for these Morgan replications and maybe even I can learn something. I feel LeRoy broke his own rules on these coins, attributing scribbles that seem to be well hidden in the feathers, dots that are nothing but flaws in the die, etc.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
The sun is merciless, brutal, revealing every ding, wart and hairline on a coin. That's why my usual procedure is to take the first look at a new coin in direct sunlight - if I'm going to be surprised by something, it will be immediate and not down the road because my table lamp hid a flaw. That's what I did with this coin. First reactions:
"Wow. This thing has some mirrors. Pretty decent mint frost too - this was an early strike from the die."
then:
"Wow. This thing is hairlined."
My heart dropped. It sure didn't look cleaned in the auction pics, which weren't bad. The coin was literally covered in hairlines - it was ugly. So, I sighed and opened the loupe for a closer look. The world changed.
It's not hairlines - it's die polishing. Amazing die polishing. Insane die polishing. There isn't a clean spot in the fields of this coin, either face, anywhere. I've never seen anything like it, and I've looked at a *lot* of Morgans. You can see some of it in the pics above - in front of the nose and around BUS on the obverse, and extending inward around the periphery of the reverse. Those big scratches thru the S in STATES? Die polish lines, so big they show in a full-face picture.
My VAM-41 is nothing like this coin.
So, what was the reason for all this polishing? Good question - I can see no die cracks even under the loupe, and even if they polished away die cracks, you could still see hairline cracks under a loupe. I investigated further, and the next post will show some of what I found.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2130 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
380 Posts |
<span class="spnMessageText" id="msg"> <img src="http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/images/icon_smile_popcorn.gif" class="inlineimg" alt="" title=""> </span>
me too... wheres that pic?
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Valued Member
United States
380 Posts |
Dave... that coin looks REALLY nice. I sure hope it aint whizzed!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5611 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Bear with me, folks. I've just finished a solid week as the only guy in Receiving at a store which processes $30 million per year through the department. Needless to say, I've been a bit....busy.
I've a bazillion QX5 images to edit, post and discuss, and a potentially negative turn to the story.
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Valued Member
United States
380 Posts |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,577 |
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Posted 11/03/2009 12:30 pm
