Hey folks! Today, I put roughly $55 into a 1922 Peace Dollar graded by PCGS as MS64 as the result of a trade. I'm wondering if it has any possible VAM varieties. First of all, I know literally nothing about VAM varieties; say that if a Morgan dollar has a VAM-2 variety and it is a radial die crack, I would attribute it as just a radial die crack. This doesn't look like any possible varieties, but then again, I could read about every variety 1,000 times and still not remember it. Could this be a VAM? If so, which variety? They're all worth more than one that's not, and hopefully it's a rare example. Here are the pictures down below. I don't mind to retake a couple of photos if the coin's close-ups look blurry.
I know nothing about such varieties, but I know that those who do need clear, well-focused pictures of both sides of the coin with no glare. They should be cropped so that as little as possible shows except the coin itself. (Neither holders nor your fingers are going to contribute to any attribution.)
I have a few VAM’s but I know nothing about them. I do know what’s already been said. I can barely see the coin you posted snd if you want VAM help you’re going to need very clear and precise photos.
Here is the link to the official 1922-P VAM list. http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/1922-P_VAMs Good luck.
Start here: www.vamworld.com/wiki/Peace_Dollar_VAMs With a really good loupe, start exploring your coin and narrowing down which characteristics support/negate certain VAMs. Make sure you find the correct year
Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Hopefully I can find if it's a VAM, and if so, its value on top of that.
Not trying to be smart, just trying to help tighten up the terminology for you..... Also very happy to be corrected if wrong, but aren't all Morgan and Peace dollars VAMs?
@cwart is correct, all Morgan and Peace dollars are VAM,s with the exception of very few. It is an extensive and ongoing study of the dies used and the marriages of obverse and reverse dies.. The acronym VAM comes from the names of the people who started it all, Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Value would come from quality of coin, rarity of VAM value etc. Read through the site http://vamworld.com/wiki/Main_Page it is very educational but be warned, it can be addictive and at the same time very frustrating.
Ain't very frustrating the truth! Imagine a millimeter making two different die crack varieties, and the difference being hundreds.
Peace and Morgan Silver are the way to go. They are all worthy no matter what the grade or condition, in my opinion. I like it.
Quite often it is not the crack etc. that is the reason for its VAM. It can be date position, mintmark style and position or the life stage of the die.
This. It drives me nuts. Some of them you need a microscope. What drives me crazy are different stages of die deterioration, and the VAM World photos often don't have photos of the pick up points that you need to map your way home. Very few are clear cut obvious attributions.
And that is why I’m not a VAM collector. I have some that have been identified by a TPG. It would drive me nuts trying to identify all of that.
All Morgan and Peace dollars are VAM'S. The great majority, IMO, have very little if any added value. If the VAM is not listed in the "Top 100" , "Hot 50" or another specialty, there is no added value. Again. IMO.
I honestly think that a lot of the grading companies know very few of the VAMs. Some world-class graders at the top companies likely need to be told the variety before they slab it. As for other varieties like doubling, RPMs, RPDs, overmintmarks, and overdates, they could probably tell those with ease.
I am going to send him a some slabbed coins for attribution in the very near future. His pricing is extremely reasonable. It would be great if he graded as well, but I know he does not. This is the very reason I'll use ANACs for raw coins. They, from what I understand, are the only grader who specializes in both grading and attribution.
