Hey Coin Talk Folks, I have an 1878-P Morgan Silver Dollar that appears to be a new VAM and need to know what you all think! I will post the email that I sent to rob Joyce and Jack Lee about the coin. I may try to post some pictures of the coin later but it should suffice to say, that any pictures would not truly show all of the characteristics that this coin has and my Digital Camera probably would not capture them anyways. The coin in question has some of the characteristics of VAM's 70 through 79 for the Date and may even have some characteristics of the VAM's through VAM 84. However, I cannot find a single one that has all of the characteristics that this coin has! Any comments and/or help would be appreciated! The email to Mr. Joyce and Mr. Lee is attatched below. Thanks...Frank ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Joyce and Mr. Lee, I have an unusual 1878-P Morgan Silver Dollar that somewhat matches some of the Morgan VAM's listed for the Date but has many more characteristics than any and all of these have! As any pictures that I could send you would not really show the characteristics on this Morgan Dollar, I will try to note them below. On the Obverse - The Stars to the left and right of the Date are doubled while to first two Stars to the right of the Date show (single) spikes (or points) sticking out of the center "V" of the Star points somewhat on the Eastern side as you view the coin Counter-Clockwise towards UNUM. The letters E PLUR are strongly doubled, IBUS show doubling mainly in the form of thickness and there is slight to medium doubling on UNUM. Miss Liberty's nostril has been over-polished and is partially missing as are her' lips which have an open gape between them. The area in front of her' eye has also been over-polished with a deep concave showing. There are many areas among her' lower hairlines that have been over-polished with polish lines or minor Die gouges showing. The recesses between the Leaves and Blossoms have been over-polished as well as inside Miss Liberty's ear with the inside lobe (extending down Southeastward in her' ear) is spiked instead of slightly rounded. The are minor Die Cracks and polish lines throughout LIBERTY, the Crown and upper hairlines. Also, a small Die Crack extends from the left outside center of the first "8" in the Date Southwest to the "1". On the Reverse (which is a Concave breast, 7 tail feathers and apparently a long nock Reverse with the parallel arrow feather) - The nock has either been re-cut (or a short nock Reverse was modified to be a long nock Reverse) as there is a definite break in it's length with a portion of the end being of a lower height than the rest of nock or shaft. The Eagle's tail feathers above and below the arrows as well as the areas around the legs and leg feathers have been over-polished with numerous polish lines showing throughout all of these. There significant polish lines in and around the ribbon in the Wreath and lesser polish lines in and around much of the leaves in the Wreath. There is also a Die Crack running from near the Eagle's right wing through the top of STATES OF to the Eagle's left wing. As I hope you can see from my description of this coin, it has many characteristics of some of the known VAM's while at the same time, it has many other characteristics that they don't have. Any help you can provide about this coin, would be appreciated! Also, do you think that I should send the coin to Mr. Leroy Van Allen for attribution? If so, can you please provide his email address and/or mailing address so I can get the coin to him?! Thanks...Frank E. Ferrell -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
