Found this yesterday in a junk box at a coin booth in an antique shop. It's a 1921-P VAM 3I "Meteor Shower".
nesvt, Nice VAM! Thanks for sharing! Must have been a Mint Employee Trainee that had a rough day! Frank
Interesting find. I wonder what is lying out there in non-specialty venues. How noticeable was this VAM in hand? Also, the imagery you provided was outstanding. You should give lessons on coin photography.
It wasn't noticeable at all. Didn't even see the obverse gouges until the next day. They reverse was blast white and nicely struck. The obverse was coated in dark crud. Couldn't even read the date. Knew it was a 1921 from the arrow feathers. The scribble scratches were very strong. There's a new VAM related book out on these. For the price, I took a chance that the obverse might look okay after an overnight soaking. Turned out okay and exposed the die gouges.
I can't help but be curious what you used as a soaking solution. I have as yet never dipped or cleaned any coin that was destined to be part of my collection. Your process seemed to leave your coin undamaged. Thank you for your information. Best wishes, JG
99.99% of the time I use acetone in a sealed glass jar, and then rinse in fresh acetone after soaking. Once in a while on a mint state coin with no hairlines, I will use ammonia. You have to be careful with either. Acetone fumes are very dangerous and highly flammable. Ammonia will take all debris off a coin and can expose every microscopic hairline scratch. Again, VERY DANGEROUS.
