I just purchased a 1878 s morgan dollar from a dealer. I was looking at the s mint mark after I left and I noticed that it was a small s but the background looks filled in. thanks
If you plan to collect Morgan silver dollars, you might want to get a copy of "Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars" (Fourth Edition) by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. The book contains a wealth of information about the old cartwheels. The different mintmarks that were used are identified on pages 122 & 123. This book is commonly referred to as the VAM Bible, and VAM is an acronym for the authors Van Allen and Mallis. Chris
You could also check out VAMworld... Speaking of which, does anyone know what the plans for said site are now that wikispaces (or whatever) is closing?
FWIW, the book covers a lot more info than the VAMWorld site. I don't know what is in store for VAMWorld. Perhaps, John Baumgart aka @messydesk can tell us something. Chris
It does indeed, but this wasn't my reason for mentioning it. The suggestion was mostly due to his concerns about the mintmark and the fact he could address it immediately.
I understand, but this isn't his first thread or question about Morgan dollars. That is why I mentioned the book. Chris
That's right... and I even posted to one of them. Good thinking. That said, and considering the fact I've now possibly blurred the lines between the two, perhaps it is worth mentioning that the greatest value in the book isn't in the comparatively few VAM listings but pretty much everything else. While more advanced, if wishing to acquire a quality reference source on such material, it's a much better option than the more popular "red book" on either series.
There are different editions - three if I recall correctly - with only the latest being soft cover, but is still about 20 or so years old (again iirc). Unfortunately, I simply cannot remember enough of the earlier versions to say if the latest is worth the 3x to 4x price, so perhaps hold off on ordering to see if anyone else can. Edited: now that I've reread @cpm9ball post specifically recommending the 4th, perhaps this is your best bet after all.
Yes. We're going to migrate to a new and improved wiki and message board. We're just starting to test out candidate platforms for this. Last Friday we had a phone conference with myself, the person who developed the SSDC Registry, and the former almost-CIO of Disney to work out a plan that we all like. I've also been in contact with Trump's Cyber-security Czar. Wikispaces is currently swamped with supporting exporting wikis, and we're still waiting for that process to complete. There's a "farewell wikispaces" thread on VAMWorld that I update as appropriate with regard to this process.
Another thing I recommend is the ANA Summer Seminar class "Collecting and Investing in Morgan Silver Dollars." (Disclaimer: I teach it.)
Thanks for the update, John. One thing I have to admit that I never really cared for about the wiki format for VAMWorld was the fact that just about anyone could add images, some of them really weren't that good and many were redundant. I realize that certain staff members of VAMWorld had the ability to review the input, but it just seemed to me that the responsibility was too overwhelming. Do you know, John, if any improvements will be made in this regard? Chris
That's a complaint I've heard a lot. The first step is to get a new wiki running. The second will be to come up with a policy to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
