1898 Morgan-Closed/Open 9?

the pictures are truely not the best, I could claim the open and closed variations are the same, by the pictures it would be hared to argue. but for vaming sake.. Forget the open or closed 9....
Start with the basics of near or far date, doubling of digits and mint mark, for this year some die cracks are noted....these may help you attribute the VAM without getting tied up with open or closed.....most years, closed means the bottom loop touches the upper loop of the nine, open means there is a definate space...G

In general I would completely agree with you, however I did compare a few of the open and closed pictures on VM, and thats why I stated the above....It's kind of a grey area for that year for some of the listings, not unlike the normal/far date issues we found on the 1892 listings....metal is filling both on this year, yet there could be a VAM within this year where the 9 actually touches like it should...I haven't reviewed them all, only about 5....

exactly MR......many times I get stumped by trying to focus on just one thing.....like the open or closed idea and the pictures are not black and white, as is some years date placements....normal date is called near or far....but its only human error as anyone can edit the pages......I think if we take an overall look we will find more things to help pin point what the VAM is.....