VAM HELP!

I only want to know one thing. Will it be worth anything?

 

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Posting photos over there is a real pain in the butt. Since it is Wiki-based, you have to be VERY careful to create a unique name for each photo so that you don't overwrite some other photo.

Chris

 

@cpm9ball

What's your opinion

 

It's only been 18 minutes since I answered that.

 

PCGS probably won't attribute the coin. They don't attribute the majority of VAM's.

Chris

 

I'll bet you head is getting worse! I'm going home for dinner.

 

I just use photobucket and then I copy and paste on the thread . then all you have to do to view the image is click on the link ..

 

Wait for John @messydesk to respond. I trust his opinion. Do not send it to PCGS. They do not attribute all VAM's.

Chris

PS. When is the Whitman Show in Baltimore? John might be attending.

Chris

 

But I thought because of its rarity it would be worth some money. Nvm, sorry for the aggrevation

 

It opened today. I'll be there Saturday. Don't recall if John mentioned making it.

 

No one can ever be 100% sure what a coin may be worth. Even if a valuable coin is listed at auction, if there are no bidders competing for it, it might not sell for much. On the other hand, you might find a common coin selling for a lot if several bidders were chasing it. You just won't know until you try to sell it.

Chris

 

When will @messydesk be on?

 

Um, with all due respect, how would any of us know?

 

I don't even know. I've lost hope with this

 

There shouldn't be any aggravation, at least towards you. It is always assumed that rarity equals value when popularity (supply and demand) is much more important. You can go pick a rock out of your driveway, spend the rest of your life searching for another exactly like it (shape, size, etc), and never find one. Is that rock, in context, rare? Absolutely, but is anyone going to pay for said rarity? No.... but they will for a cut diamond that has millions others just like it. Well, it's the same with coins, and is especially true with varieties. Does this make sense?

 

Just got done with the dinner dishes, so now I'll try and answer as many questions as I can before playing a few levels of TurboTax.

On the die crack: Not something listable by itself, although die cracks work as fingerprints that can confirm an attribution by matching them to another coin.

On sending to Leroy: Leroy Van Allen is the only person that can add a VAM, but (1) it hasn't been established this is something new, and (2) he's in the middle of moving down the block and won't be able to look at coins until at least mid-April

On third party grading services: PCGS and NGC only attribute the most popular VAMs that are well documented in respected references beyond the VAM book. It may be only 10% of the entire VAM catalog, but that's still 600 varieties. ANACS and I will attempt to attribute them all, but it can be difficult for some. Most dates that haven't been followed closely have a couple ambiguities and errors in the attribution materials. Nobody maintains a collection of all VAMs for quick comparison, and nobody has studied 1884-O enough to shake out all the question marks in the catalog.

On what it's worth: Most VAMs have no premium over the value of an unattributed coin because they're common enough to satisfy demand. This would be one of them. The only 84-O that are worth premiums are VAMs 6, 10, and 25, and those premiums aren't terribly large. VAM 25 might be the best of the three.

On rarity numbers: These have nothing to do with value. There can be only one or two known of a particular VAM, but without demand, there is no premium. The rarity numbers are merely an estimate at the time of cataloging of how scarce a particular die pair might be. Some have turned out to be quite wrong, but there's not a robust process for correcting them at this time.

On what it is: Not sure yet. The top of the 8 looks doubled. Not so sure about the 1. The vertical die scratch right of the should help. VAM 47 does seem possible based on date position, but the top of the 8 bugs me. If you could post a picture of the mint mark and Liberty's ear similar to the 5 yellow pictures posted on page 2, that would help.

 

Hope this helps you!! @messydesk

 

Ear not doubled, plain old oval mint mark. Could be VAM 34, too. The only picture I have, however, is from the VAM book, and it's not too good. Your coin seems to match the description better than the pictured coin. I haven't attributed any VAM 34s to date, so nothing to compare it with.

 

Okay, thank you so much @messydesk