GTG: 1878 Morgan (VAM too!)

22A, as I mentioned earlier. I want to see that crack by the second left star and the ones at D->wing fully developed into breaks for 22B, but that's only my interpretation of what I see at VAMworld.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

MS64 VAM-22B

 

Gee guys. I can see the VAM book on the reference shelf from where I'm sitting. I outta get crackin' but there is just so many coins and so little time.:-(

 

Just look for obvious "in your face" features like large gouges, major clashes, clashes with strong letter transfer especially the E below the tailfeathers etc. Those typically bring the money worth spending a little time looking for out of a huge lot. And always check all 8TF. Some are down right rare and bring stupid money

 

Honestly, if you presented me with 7,000 Morgans to attribute I'd just bluescreen.

 

I'd say look at the top 100 and go through them top to bottom as you have time. I assume your Morgan Dollars are organized by date/mm? If not, maybe we can make friends and I'll do it for you, for a discount of course.

 

The seller's pictures made it look cleaned. I agree with the grade. VAM 22 was not broken into subvarieties when the coin was slabbed, so it's correct to say it's VAM 22A. All VAM 22 have the clash because the obverse was used previously on VAMs 85, 80, and 86, in that order. The clash you see is from the VAM 80 die pair, which means that all VAM 86 have a clash, as well.

 

Well, if @messydesk says it's a 22A, then it's a 22A. Too bad though; I really think it was close to being a 22B. @messydesk I assume that the 22B is just a later die stage? It looks like mine is almost an "in between" which is why I assume it is classified as a 22A.

 

You need the die cracks of 22A to form into die breaks to be 22B. No breaks, as pictured in the VW 22B listing, no B

 

Got it!

 

It makes sense. Mine is on the cusp. No worries, it's still a nice coin.

 

Of course the better coins are 2x2ed in blue Whitman boxes but the common dates are sorted by grade--cull, Good, VG.......BU and in plastic tubes.

Yes, the 1878's are tubed separate and the 8TF's are 2x2ed but not VAM checked.

Realize that this is just one little denomination from just one country. The same can be said for every other denomination and every other country and then there is currency and exonumia (which has long had a special place in my heart). I guess I kinda high jacked this thread and I apologize.

Speaking of exonumia, I bought a "Sinking of the Lusitania" Karl Goetz medal when I was a college student and fell in love with them. I more recently started buying the propaganda version whenever I see a nice one for a nice price. I'm up to about 40 pieces now.

 

Is that the one where the scene is of a ticket station and everyone is a skeleton with something written in German on the newspaper one of the ticket buyers is holding. I want one of those.

 

Yes. "Death selling tickets". The original bronze is rare and a little expensive. I have bid and missed on several on Fleabay. The propaganda versions are everywhere although there are a couple of these that are rare also. One was manufactured near me in Western Pennsylvania by a couple of German emigrants. Another was a Japanese copy. There is a book on these but it's not the most informative study.

 

The relevant census doesn't indicate any major gap in rarity between the two anyways. That said, given the choice I'll always want the latest die state possible too.

 

I recently acquired one and wrote an article on it if you're interested:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/lusitania-medal.285450/

I was hoping it would get put on the home page but no luck!

 

Yup. That's the one. I want one. What do the originals go for?

 

Originals are a few hundred dollars and hard to spot from restrikes (mainly because I'm not well versed on them but because not all of them are marked by Goetz). I picked mine up for under $100 and believe mine to be a re strike. Some originals have K. Goetz on the edge. I suggest attempting to buy one of those.

 

It's been my experience that front-page threads might need a suggestion PM to the Mods, lest they slip through the cracks. They can't read every single word posted here, and might not open a given thread in a subject matter not of interest to them. So the next time you do that, PM a buddy.