After a few days here, finally got the chance to get to a coin shop in Burlington, VT. Martin's Coins and Jewelry, a small shop but very friendly owner. I didn't have as much time there as I wanted, but that didn't stop me from buying a few Morgans and an ASE. Nothing overly rare was purchased, but I was happy to see a different shop! 1880-S with a somewhat PL obverse. 1881-S, to get put into my albums. 1887-O, cull... just because.
For as much as I've tried so far, I can't figure out the VAMs on these. But I've only got my little loupe which is a major inconvenience for vamming, so they'll just have to wait until I get back home to my scope. It would be great to find an overdate, but that's highly unlikely. I did notice some long die polish lines on the reverse that go under the devices so that was nice to see.
Nice buys. I had a friend that owned a 1976 Vam. I mean Van. Wait! What's a Vam anyways (Morgan newbie)??
I once had a 1976 Oldsmobile Omega SX that was gifted to me by my dad after a terrible car accident I was in and in need of a vehicle. It was originally purchased by my uncle, who sold it to my dad years later. Little did I know, that was a rather rare car, particularly due to the transmission in it, and my dad just about blew an o-ring when he found out I donated it because I blew the transmission! He was rather upset with me that day. Vams refer to specific die varieties (more like particular die marriages) for specific coins / years / mints. "VAM" itself is an acronym for the 2 people who began identifying and listing these different die marriages for each year and mint, Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Just because one particular coin from, say 1897, has a VAM-16 that doesn't mean that every VAM-16 is the same. Each year and mint had their own die marriages for production that year, so VAMs will not match between years or even same years of different mints.
Just realized I forgot to add the ASE. Dug it out of a cull bag at the shop. Kind of a losing bid because Vermont charges sales tax on PM, but I got it anyways.
How far away from home are you? Just vacationing? My wife and I want to see Maine one day, and I ain't driving from Florida.
A little bit shy of 400 miles and yeah, just a vacation. Maine is the only state on the east coast I've never been in. Driving there from Florida would definitely be quite the road trip! To here is about 7.5 hours on the road after accounting for bathroom breaks, doggy breaks, food stops, etc. Our first time driving here (2017) was about 12.5 hours though, and by far the most problematic drive I've ever taken. Went through an active shooter scene first that ended... not well. Then got detoured instead of getting onto the turnpike. Then got stuck on the turnpike when it got shut down in all directions, had to turn around and drive south in the northbound lane, back to the entrance we got detoured to, then had to find our way back onto the highway after the closure. It was crazy.
