1921 morgans are viewed as common and worthless by most hobbyists. If you find the right vam, that changes everything, oh yes! Enter the unicorn D 1921 denver for example, one of these in Unc condition = moon money! You dont even need to be a vam expert to find this one (you will need some luck) theres a die break across the D in united that, looks like a unicorns horn. Unfortunately I havent run across this one yet, but if i ever do i guarantee you it will be unbeknownst to the seller they have a rare vam...... Here is another cool one- albeit not as expensive, a 1921p Pompadour T, notice the die break atop the 2nd T in States... This coin is a Rarity-6...... If anyone else has a cool '21 vam please feel free to post away!!
I'm about to hit the sack, so I'll only reply with one tonight. Here's the PCGS MS64 Pompadour mentioned at VAMworld - I don't know if it's still the Top Pop coin but it was when I owned it. Aw, heck. One more while I'm on a roll. The Top Pop VAM-1J, again as noted at VAMworld:
Your 1j has a similiar obverse crack as this 1B1 (capped R).... this is the early die state, i found a later die state too, that was a huge greaser, unfortunately i sold it (no it wasnt a filled E). Note the upper reverse polish, you dont need a loupe to attribute this one!
The 1921-D Morgan dies seemed more prone to neat die breaks than those of the other mints. Could be they were more brittle as a result of Denver's hardening process. By contrast, 1921-S dies typically just turned to goo when they wore out, producing the worst detailed coins of the series. Anyway, 1921-D die breaks were actually what caused VAMWorld to be created. Rob Joyce did a book "Fun with 1921" in 2003 that featured these die breaks, which then caused many more to be discovered as people paid attention to them. Rather than update the book, he created a wiki, VAMWorld, that could more easily be kept up to date. For those interested in Rob's 2003 book, he has made it available as a PDF download.
Thats funny cause D mint '21s are what got me started too.... thanks to the '21 die crack guide @ vamworld even a noob can be an expert....
OK, I'll see your EDS: And raise you an LDS: This is the closest I've ever come to an LDS Unicorn. Not quite.
Now THATS a capped R !! That had to be bittersweet to find a unicorn D thats just a squoze early die state. Still a very very lucky find that I would be proud of for sure. Every coin show i attend I flip over all the '21Ds and '87Ps i run across looking for the Unicorn and the E clasher. No such luck, but one of these days..............
I just had a LDS 21-D VAM 1N unicorn D (retained cud) cross my desk a little while ago. Very cool coin. They're out there.
Keep em comin SuperDave! Im in heaven here! One thing that strikes me as odd though? Why on earth is the die polish on the capped R more pronounced on the later die state than the early one? I thought mirrors on morgans fade over the life of a die, not get stronger? I wonder if its because of the method they used to polish it in 1921 as opposed to how they would perform this in the earlier years? It still seems odd either way
Im sure you have had quite a few cross your messy desk, that would give me a heart attack if I found them in the wild...... a certain 1889p comes to mind.................
If you're referring to the vertical bands of seemingly reflective areas on the reverse, these come from the feed fingers of the press gently scraping the die, and over time wearing off the flow lines and leaving a nice, shiny patch.
Im all-in....... the only images i have left are scribbles and purdy ones.......now i regret not imaging some of my older pickups..... You have me beat and its not even close, in my defense i just started searching these out maybe 2 years ago.... im still a greenhorn
Not to mention my imaging skills were in their infancy back when I shot these, and I was getting a lot more contrast than was really appropriate for the true look of the coin.
I just had one in-hand today that was very close to being a retained cud above the UNIT area. I should have snapped one and sent it to ya dave. I may be sending you a PM in the future if I come across another good one. If this is ok? Nice to find someone with a similiar cup of tea so to speak...... Messydesk ive thought about PMing you before with a coin/question but i assume u are busy as a bumblebee..... When i find my '87p vam1b you will be one of the 1st to know..... That coin will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine!!! I did find the 84p E clasher once, sadly, there is hardly a premium for it
