VAM... Who Cares?

OK..Thanks!....I started with the mixed 57 that were housed in 2 tubes. I'm just doing preliminary grading and dating. Some of the "O's" are graded in 2x2s and from coin shops, others are in flip over plastic with no grade, and 4 of them are TPGs which will help a little with my grading on these "O" coins as they are all graded 64 with varying conditions....Too much fun! Cheers from the Tundra

I started Vamming, NOT for QUEST's OF GOLD.. but for the reality of what I see before me..there are errors a PLENTY within this series. but if you don't really care for Morgan dollars, it really doesn't matter....Personnaly, I have heard of the 1943 copper Lincoln Cent for 40+ years and how valuable it is.......I lost my interest for pennies and never could afford gold, which by my understandings even if its rare in general doesn't find the leprecans pot "O" gold for most year and mints....And if grand ma left me 140 Morgans and they are all the plain jane no REAL MONEY collector vams...it is what it is....But I will tell you this one thing....that with time you will find some good coins that are worth much more than you pay for them...I am not a dealer, just a very small time collector, and VAM's are a part of it.....I got lucky and found very many R6 coins from my own stash or collection, and find something new every time I have the chance to look, and money IS my problem like most of us, I don't have the money to look every day or buy a $3,000 coin at a moments notice...IT IS WHAT IT IS......I have not found the $10'K coin yet, but with some knowledge behind me...I can see coins worth more than what I pay for them........in the end.. is that not what we seek. or are we expecting, some triffle time in studies to grant us the big bucks? it is what it is...

Those who can collect MS-65,66,67 or MS68.. These are the most gorgeous coins minted in which perfection as it could be will be in hand... but most of us can't afford those coins, though there are plenty who can...Even if I can't afford a MS65 collection, Is it wrong to observe and appreciate those coins above what I can afford? or even appreciate lesser grades that fall within my grasp? And what if it was a VAM.. who cares its exactly as the thread asks... its up to those who collect...Its not a put me down, if I don't see the VAM Idea. or put me down because I only collect the most "FLAWLESS" coins I can find.....that is the beauty of collecting,,,what ever tickles your fancy,,,its not that we are grater or lesser because we don't collect what others are doing....And I do agree with you, collect the things and they way you chose to collect!! that is what it is all about..IF your interested in vamming, just ask there are those who will help as we can, IF your not, that's ok too, there are many here who collect all the types from ancient to modern coins and many experts as well....I have learned much from all of it.....
I just don't expect my coins to be that rare.....but when one of 100 is, its kind of cool.....but its my friends here who helped me learn
nuff said.....

as far as I know Van Allen was the first to write about the varieties of Morgans and Peace dollars even before teaming up with Mallis he already had a book printed about them. The encyclopedia is Van Allens second book about Morgan and Peace Varieties and Mallis's first as far as I know. I do not think the term VAM was coined until L.V.A. and G.A.M. teamed up though. My grandfather used to look for the "perfect" coin, he would look for how centered it was on the planchet and how deeply struck the coin was and all of that and I can respect that. When I started collecting Morgans my goal was to complete a date/mm set in MS-64 or above (nothing lower) because I looked at all the price guides and on most dates Morgans graded 65 were worth allot more than 64's and 63's were just a little less than 64's so I felt 64's had the most room for gain in prices. I had never heard the term VAM nor had I ever thought there would be a website dedicated to coin collectors to share their knowledge so I had never even looked for a forum like this one at the time. It was only while searching on ebay (the main place I bought all my coins at that time since I have no B&M shops around me) I saw a 1878 Morgan VAM-84 graded by NGC as MS-62 and I had to have it even though I didn't know what a VAM was at the time nor did I know what the number behind it meant. I had always liked 1878 Morgans over the other dates because I have just liked the first of the first of everything my whole life and since 1878 was the first year I really liked them more than the rest even though I almost had a whole date set and pretty close to a full date/mm set minus a few key dates/mm. I had purchased a few 7Tf and a few 7/8TF and a few 8TF already even though I only had one of each other date so I had already kind of fancied the 1878 over others even if I didn't really know it at the time, I guess I just thought it was interesting that there could be three different main types come from one date. Anyway back to the VAM-84, I purchased it and once it got here I started looking on the web for this term VAM and even read quite a bit about this VAM-84 thing I didn't know anything about (I still have the original VAM-84 I bought that started it all in my collection also). The more I read the more intrigued I became. I started looking through all of my coins (especially the 7/8TF's because that was the one that seemed to have allot of different VAM's and information about them online). I looked at all the die cracks and all the doubling on the MS-64 example I had that was graded by PCGS and started looking online for matches. I thought I had found one being talked about that was just like mine on a forum called coincommunity so I joined and joined in on the discussion of this coin I thought matched mine. It turned out it wasn't the same VAM as mine because there were a few differences that that coin had that mine didn't have. Anyway SuperDave helped me attribute this coin and mentioned I get the "encyclopedia" and I did so. Once I got it I found I had other VAM's that were listed as pretty desirable (at that time I didn't know every Morgan and Peace dollar was one VAM or another). I had some listed as HOT-50 and some as TOP-100 and some that were just plain interesting within the collecting community and allot of my 40.00 coins turned into 200-300 dollar coins all because of what VAM they were. This alone was enough to get me really interested in it because I had always wanted a collection my kids could be proud of once I was gone and if they needed to, they could sell it at that time and have some money between them because the coins would always be coins and always worth something where all the other junk I was buying wasn't worth a hoot a year or two after I had purchased it. Varieties are just like errors, they aren't perfect and that's what makes them interesting. If everything in your life is perfect it would be pretty boring and the little differences between one VAM to another one is what makes it interesting to collectors. Once the interest is there its the same with everything else where is the supply can't meet the demand of that one particular variety the price goes up. same with a error, if there are more collectors that are interested in that particular error than there were that particular error minted then the price goes up on that error. VAM's is also a knowledge based specialty, where if you are the buyer and see a coin that you know is a particular VAM that is worth more than the seller is selling it for then its a way to make sure your collection is worth more than you paid. Its just like cherry picking anything else, its knowledge based where one person knows more about that particular item than the other and can buy it for less than its actually worth. an example is if there were allot of paintings on the wall of someones grandmother and they had a yard sale after she had passed away and didn't tell them what they were or what they were worth (or maybe she didn't even know because it had been passed down to her from another family member) and someone at that yard sale knew the painting and knew the artist even though you couldn't see it because of the frame it was in and saw a $1.00 price tag on it even though it was a million dollar Rembrandt, his knowledge just allowed him to cherry pick that art for almost nothing and once he sells it and he knows what its worth, he will not sell it for less than its worth. Some people like art, I like VAM's

Sorry for the book but the best way I knew to explain it was with my own experience

I will admit, I am not a collector of VAMs myself (yet anyways), but then I don't collect foreign coins or colonial coins either. To each his own.

a small book my friend, and such a story many of us have.....THE VAM GAME IS LIKE NOW/// the trend......if you have a coin, it you don't know what it is,,,now,,,, an ultra rare VAM...so the hype is,,,.I ..know I don't know nothing. and my coin is worth a fortune....Pretty simple yes?.......so the game begins...

Thanks Zee...I have some cool friends here, often times the brainstorming
leads to some unique thoughts and ideas....never found alone..rather added to the pot.
even satire of the present topic works well on either side of the coin your standing one!!

1893S....Your point and your frustration with all of this VAM stuff is not lost on me.

Vamming is not for everyone.....just as error coins are not for all, but for a certain breed of collectors.... I know of several CBH collectors who will not own a Bust Half unless it is of high grade and free of features that were not intended to be on the coin (free of such features as breaks or denticle impressions).....

I too think that some of the microscopic features that distinguish one VAM from another are borderline ridiculous, yet it is just that microscopic scratch or chip that gives the identity to a particular die as opposed to the rest.....

Collecting anything is a different quest to each individual personality.....I don't get into vamming either, but I don't sneer at those who do......Most of these guys here are not so materialistic as to go only for the varieties that hold the most retail value, rather, they seek out what interests them as a 'collector', and their motivation is not financial greed.