What the heck is this on the reverse of a Morgan dollar?

Was just cruising the auction section, not seeing anything interesting tonight but this baffled me. 1899 O. What is the crack looking thing going completely around the rim on the reverse? Seems sketchy if its not just damage, and it being a raw coin with no attempt to get it graded. VAMs give me headaches and I've about decided I'm not that interested in learning about them either.
In case you are wondering, no, I did not bid on it. lol

 

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I believe it is a die crack, Barney.

I'll await the experts.....

 

Me too. That definitely means it's a scratch!! Tapping foot, looking at clock. Wow, the amount of cleaned raw coins up for auction tonight gave me a headache.

 

I think its VAM-25B, It also has a cap-V die clash .

 

Die crack. A rather fun one. You don’t see that many on Morgan’s. But you get into early stuff. Especially bust halves and early large cents and cracks abound

 

How much value does that add? It was an obvious defect. So obvious, that even I noticed it immediately. Seemed too good to be true, so I ran away, far and fast. Glad I saved the photo though. Thanks for all the replies.

 

No added value in my opinion. 5 more wrapping days left!

 

No, actually I don't think it means it's a scratch.

A die crack is a deformation in the die which repeats on multiple strikes. This line is RAISED which means the die had an indentation which was the mirror-inverse of the crack (indents on die = raised on coin).

Die cracks generally show authenticity in addition to die combinations.

 

So far, everything I've posted and asked if it were an error, strike through error, die crack, etc has been post mint damage. Finally I find something that's real and run away from it. You have to see the humor and irony here.

 

No added value. Just a rather fun look at coin manufacturing

 

My opinion is useless to you, BUT, being who I am, I have an opinion (it is what I do, and I know it is irritating):

Maybe you should not have 'scratched' this piece from the Consideration List.

It also has a very prominent Die Clash.

It also appears to be a High O tilted Right. VAM 11A possibly.

I think it is an early Die State Die Break.

90% of the story of a Morgan is the Obverse. I would have liked to have seen a photo of the Obverse of this piece. I would also have liked to check if it was a Doubled Ear.

That is all I've got.
Sue me.

I never offer a grading opinion from an image. It is also impossible to do so for an MS piece.

 

I am not a VAM collector but here is my opinion anyway. As to whether the crack adds any additional value would be determined by the value of this VAM compared to the other VAMs struck for this date and mint.

 

There is a big die crack that runs down the middle of this 1801 half dime. Start at the "T" in "LIBERTY" and work your way down. A big die crack for a little coin!



And, before that crack developed, there was circular one to the left of the stars on the right side. The second crack caused so much of a shift in the dies, that the first one disappeared. Some people thought these were two die varieties. They weren't. They were die states of the same die.

 

Did you produce the Captain Obvious commercial?
(don't hit me....)

 

One thing several taught me here, you get a tooth pick and if it’s raised, it’s usually something. I think I have posted everything in the world as others do and have done because we are all new at one time or another in everything.
This one you have is a fun find and listen to the ones that have been collecting.

 

That coin has a nice around the rim die crack. Looks like a VAM with the die clash. Any damage is below the coins surface while cracks, etc are raised. It’s a very nice looking coin.
If you can still bid on this coin it may be worth it. I’m not a collector of VAM’s but I do have a few of them.

 

I am not that creative. Just my awkward way of saying the coin needs to be attributed before one can answer whether the crack adds value or not.