I have this 1886 Morgan, didn't give it any thought really. I'm trying to collect all years and this one was one of my recent aquisitions. I looked over it with a loupe and discovered some nice die clashing. When looking through Vams I see it resembles numerous vams, even a Top 50 1-C But I've yet to classify it as it seems to have some of this, and some of that but not all of just 1. Maybe a new Vam variety? If you look at the 5th picture there is a POSSIBLE wing clash, I haven't found the wing obv die clash on any other known 1886 vams. Not pictured - The crack through the Eagle's left wing More die breaks http://i.imgur.com/QJ69F.jpg http://i.imgur.com/qLKhc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3LdHQ.jpg
The clashes you've shown, the neck, the wing, the cap vee and her profile are the most common clashes that occur in almost every year of the Morgan. As a matter of fact, the dies that produced your coin clashed at least twice. Most often, they aren't mentioned in the VAM descriptions because they are so common. Look for the letter transfer, "n", along her neck about 1/4th of the way down below the wing clash. Chris
Thanks for the info. The clash in the first picture is part of the vam hot 50 clash, that's the main reason I had thought to ask. Would you attribute just vam1 then? The two bars above right wing aren't just a normal thing though
One thing that you must bear in mind when searching the listings on VAMWorld is that the site uses a wiki-based protocol which means that any member there can add their own photos to the listings. Some of the members like to think they are helping by doing this, but in some cases their photos are useless and not very good. It's sort of like the guy who knows nothing about tuning up a car but while the mechanic is working on the car, the owner checks to see if the radiator cap is closed tightly. I can't say with all certainty if your coin is a VAM-1 or not. I would have to be able to examine the entire coin to check for any other markers to try to identify it. The two parallel marks between the eagle's right wing (viewer's left) and the "n" of IGWT indicate that the dies clashed at least twice, and like the cap vee, the second clash happened after the die had rotated slightly. This, too, is common, and does not ordinarily warrant attribution. The photos below are from my 1882-CC VAM-2C. The dies for this series of VAM's clashed numerous times, occasionally being polished and repolished only to clash again. The photos show that the dies not only rotated between clashes, but also produced some cool counterclashes as well. Chris
