A Couple Of Misses

If you don't mind me asking, how much did these end up going for on ebay?

Yikes... a $1,000+ profit off of that 78-S, and I can barely tell the difference between the two (without your explanation of things to look for). Total respect, and I'm glad I'm not involved with VAMs... yet.

Yes it's probably good that we never know. My bids were $183 and $355 respectively. If the high bidder's max bids were $185 and $360 I might do something drastic. In both cases there were only two bidders that bid the VAMs ... myself and the winning bidder. All others were left far in the dust.

Another one succumbs

Some VAMs can flip very easily due to extreme rarity and popularity. Others, though rare, just don't have the appeal.

I get my values from the semi-annual SSDC Retail VAM Price Index. This reflects prices paid during the last six months and includes 1878-P, Top 100, Hot 50 and now Hitlist 40 VAMs. Prices reflect what the market paid (EBay, VamQuest, Teletrade, Heritage, reported private sale, etc). It's a PDF file that is emailed to SSDC members in January and July. SSDC membership is about $22 per anum.

These two would have no problem getting the buyer a profit should he/she decide to sell. There is the additional expense of PCGS certification (absolutely required to insure top price on these two). The guide shows the VAM 14.6 selling for $400 in VF and $1300 in XF, the VAM 18 sold for $1500 in MS61 and $1800 in MS62. There are no sales reported for the VAM 18 in MS63 or higher.