1921 (p) Morgan with die cracks

How are the die cracks on these mass produced Morgan's tracked? Do they have VAM numbers, or are die crack states assigned another catalogue code?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I don't think anyone cares much about die cracks unless they are a marker for a particular VAM

 

+1

 

There is a Die crack guide for 21' Morgan's to help attribute them.
The dies were horrendous this particular year.

 

Just like "Squiggles", who cares!

 

Squiggles was he a member here?

 

was ?, what did you do with him ?

 

Those '21's are loaded with die cracks and yours is no exception.

 

Shhhhhhh...don't ask, don't tell

 

Yeah, they were rushing to make them and quality control apparently took a back seat to mass production. But, I like the die cracks as they make each coin slightly unique (and cracking is often associated with a scarcer VAM - once any die crack progressed far enough, they would have retired the die for safety reasons or to eliminate cuds).

 

Don't worry, @cpm9ball straightened him out

 

They aren't primary diagnostics for VAMs in general, but make good fingerprints that let you confirm an attribution, and for 1921 and 1921-D there are VAMWorld pages that diagram them for quick identification. Why? Because someone wanted to.

I looked through this page and found what looks like a match to VAM 75A pretty quickly. Keep in mind that cracks grow over time, so any given coin might not have all the cracks shown, or it might have more.

 

Thanks. I'll check that out under the scope and see if it matches with better pics.

 

What does VAM stand for?

 

Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. They're the two gentlemen who first collaborated on what is now known as the VAM book back in the 1960s. Mallis passed away in December 1999. Leroy Van Allen is 86.