1878 Morgan - can you help me ID the VAM?

Looks like you organized it very well.

My personal difficulty is with the coin in hand, seeing the attributes or not due to wear, strike or some kind of stain. Absolutely LOVE the website and appreciate all the hard work put into it...Spark

 

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Hear, hear. I especially like the high res photos at the bottom of many pages. If I'm keyed into a particularly obvious (,to me) feature, but there's not a closeup of that area, I can usually check there. Great site and very useful!

 

You need to get a Bill Fivaz book on them. Get the Cherry Picker's Guide, he also has more books you need.. Get a copy of The Top Morgan Dollar Varieties: The Vam Keys by Michael S. Fey, Ph.D and Jeff Oxman. Then you can know and pick.

 

Is this possibly the VAM113 from before the cheek developed the fleck? Are there early stages of the die known?

 

VAM 113 always has the fleck on the cheek.

 

Why? Surely that comes from damage to the die from use. Wouldn't there be an early stage with the other district markers but before the cheek flashed off?

 

Damage to the die can occur while it's being made, and this includes chips and cracks.