Would You Share The Pup's You Know, Or Not...

I don't see any advantages of keeping any information you may have quiet about anything to do with coins. I don't feel as though this is a competition on who knows most about what but the only way the hobby with strive is if the ones that have learned start to teach. If you look back that is how most societies survived throughout the years, the old taught the young from their experiences and it went on down the line. I know when I was a kid I could sit and listen to my Great Grandfather tell stories all day long, and there was this older lady that we used to go visit and she would sit out on her porch rocking chair and tell us stories she had lived through or that had been passed down from her friends throughout her life and some I still remember to this day. If you keep knowledge to yourself it also dies with you and wasn't worth learning in the first place

I'm gifted (or cursed) with the natural tendency to see this as a black-and-white situation. It's intuitively obvious to me - the more information, the easier access to that information, the greater the number of people who will access that information and act on it. That's a no-brainer in retailing. The goals of "us," the collectors, might seem to be in conflict with "them," the sellers, but only if we both choose to think in the shortest-possible term.

This is a "duh" to me. Blanket the market with the information. Bury the market with information. Grow your customer base, not limit it. Hello?

Dave, I did NOT in any way refer to the 'other site', I did say " I have decided after seeing on another site ", just to be clear. IMO, I owe a large debt to VamWorld, the people there have helped me to gain a better knowledge base to become an informed VAM collector,each and every day, to those people I thank you.....

I know this topic is going to be a conflict for some, I too also see things behind the scenes that should be addressed and won't.

I could see how things from a collectors view are not always clear, and even for the experienced of variety hunters, some things will never be clear, why, I see things the way they are because of tolerance, collectors have tolerated the hype, the one of a kind price guide information, which in case you have not noticed are made up by the dealers of the coins we as a collecting group seek, why you might ask, I see it as a dog and pony show, this is a very competitive hobby, some will admit this and some will keep their heads in the sand about the topic, but sooner or later these people have to come up for air.

I would like to think people are basically good, but do not mistaken kindness for stupidity, collectors need to be and stand strong, rethink the "guides" question the top pop lists,the top 100 list, top 40 and any other lists that were made to be seen by the same people who profit from us buying those coins.

I say question everything and once that thought process is in place, I believe many people will change their ways of doing/seeing things, change the way of collecting,and collect what you would like, collect what interests you, NOT what would generate income for others at your expense, share the knowledge you have to grow this passion we all have come to enjoy, from the first Morgan silver dollar and the design based on the 19 year old who later became a kindergarten Teacher Anna Williams, to the complications from the pressure of making mistakes in the 1st Reverse made from an apparent oversight in the amount of tail feathers an eagle anatomically has and the coining process that in those days I believe were rudimentary at best and truthfully, all involved did a darn good job for the times and conditions.

This is information that was happening in the pre 1878 process that led to one of the most collected silver dollar coins in history and leads us to the world of Vams. Vammers, just another breed of people seeking knowledge about the coins die varieties and the differences of these dies from over 5000 Vams known to date, which I know the number will grow and the people who collect them also will grow and differ in that if the information available is not factual and complete how could the collectors of the tomorrows expect to have the information needed to assist them today to become knowledgeable, informed collectors......Remember playing marbles, this hobby is just like that, always fun and sharing with your friends the passion and excitement of the day......PS, I always like the green ones.

Someone must have had "hijack a thread" on their "Bucket List". Never once did they use "pup"," VAM" or " Morgan dollar" in the post. Cross that one off your list and give yourself 5 extra points. Good Job!

The Mighty OZ, (lol)

I have been reading your comments and see you have a better than good understanding of the ENTIRE Morgan VAM passion.

I ask you, why do you think, in your own opinion, is the top 100 pop list coins, are ALL the pup;s NOT listed, is this just an example of human error, is there just another simple reason, or is there ??

I would appreciate your apparent obvious experienced comments!!
Thanking you in advance, Mike......

Vamming by its very nature is a 'work in progress' that will always (to a certain degree) be incomplete.

The aspect you are alluding to is: Are all pick up points on all vams shown? In my experience, no.

Anytime you have a body of work that is being assembled, it is up to the people contributing to list what they are comfortable listing. Couple that with brighter than average IQs with competitive egocentric personalities and the obvious answer is not everything will be listed. There are people in the hobby who want for what ever their particular reason is, to maintain a competitive advantage. This doesn't mean these people are bad. This doesn't mean something is nefarious, it only means the contributors did not list everything they knew. Some of this view can be ascribed that not everything is going to be given to someone without effort on their part to learn. This is a powerful dynamic in this complex equation.

I think the thing to focus on is learning good methodology and sound vamming technique. At the same time also understand not all data on a body of work in progress is always accurate.

If you are going to have a mentor ship program, you need serious students willing to put forth an honest effort to learn. Absent this, many who have gained a lot of knowledge are reluctant to see it squandered by handing over that knowledge without effort on the part of students to learn.

With the advent of the Internet, as Marshall McLuhan once noted, the medium is the message. It is this ways with vams. As more and more Morgan and Peace dollars are codified, the Internet with its' instant access to data will rule the day.

As I stated earlier, this is a complex multifaceted issue that has many differing points of view with no one correct view.

Its all good Mike...as in any adventure many things look like there out to make a buck on any thing we undertake...that's surely/probably true, but in turn doesn't mean we have to partake..how we choose to partake is our own doing...