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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;nesvt, post: 26130, member: 1749&quot;]Thanks for the feedback.&nbsp; I stopped by on my return trip and picked up some more info and a &quot;few&quot; more coins (30 of them&nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ). </p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for the instructions and other advice.&nbsp; I did buy 100 Mercury dimes at a flea market this summer for $30.&nbsp; A few of these might be better choices for my experiments... though one of those Morgan&#039;s has big chunks of dark green on the back that I&#039;d like to remove.</p><p><br /></p><p>I wanted to quickly say something about experimenting.&nbsp; I&#039;d never recommend someone fool around with anything at home.&nbsp; I&#039;ve studied a little chemistry, had a photo lab for 20+ years, and have worked with acids in the semi-conductor photolithographic process.&nbsp; I don&#039;t have a lot of knowledge, but I have a lot of caution.&nbsp; I know what can happen when you use even household chemicals wrong, mix with other chemicals, get on skin or in eyes, use in confined areas, etc.&nbsp; I&#039;m just mentioning this because I might be using acetone and recently read an article about &quot;fake toning&quot; with a butane lighter.&nbsp; If I combined the two, I think I&#039;d lose my eyebrows and burn down my house.</p><p><br /></p><p>I received some messages about the location of this place.&nbsp; I want to check it out a couple of times and then I&#039;ll PM some people.&nbsp; It&#039;s not in CT, RI, MA, or NJ.&nbsp; There aren&#039;t any hidden hoards of silver dollars there.&nbsp; I stopped back at the end of the week with my 2005 coin budget in hand.&nbsp; He doesn&#039;t like credit cards.&nbsp; I had money when I left.&nbsp; There were only about 30 raw loose Peace dollars.&nbsp; I bought half of them, along with another dozen Morgans.&nbsp; It was a busy place and I don&#039;t know what came in and went out over the last few days.&nbsp; I met the co-owner and was told that most of the coins were from old-timers in the area... one collector and one former coin shop owner. Different than what I heard earlier.</p><p><br /></p><p>I didn&#039;t think I would catch the place open again, but I got there just before closing time.&nbsp; I&#039;m looking for Morgan VAMs, but I don&#039;t have anything memorized.&nbsp; In the parking lot, I opened the Top 100 VAM book and picked a year... 1888.&nbsp; Looked at the double ear, clashed E, scarface, and &quot;hot lips&quot;.&nbsp; Went inside and bought 27 of the loose Peace and Morgan dollars, then checked out the case with cardboard 2x2&#039;s.&nbsp; He had six 1888&#039;s.&nbsp; Checked them all but didn&#039;t see the VAMs from the book.&nbsp; I did see an 1888-P with a die scratch from the last T in TRUST to the wing.&nbsp; Bought it for $20.&nbsp; I think some of you saw that note in another forum about the 1882-O O/S.&nbsp; The forum member was asking why the $20 coin was worth $250 (it was a VAM).&nbsp; There were eight 1882-O&#039;s in this place, so I checked them all.&nbsp; The third one was an O over S VAM-3.&nbsp; I got it for $20.&nbsp; I had checked his 1878&#039;s and 1879&#039;s five days earlier.&nbsp; He had a new 1879-S for $23.&nbsp; I noticed it had the B reverse (1878) and a double D in dollar.&nbsp; It must be a VAM.&nbsp; I may not be getting great deals on these, but I&#039;m trying to get different &quot;types&quot; of VAMs for my collection (double ear, double letters, double stars, overstamped mint marks, die cracks, etc).&nbsp; This has been great.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are pictures of the five coins that I originally got for $8 each.&nbsp; The one on the far right (1878-S) is the VAM-15 with the black smudge (close-ups too).&nbsp; I don&#039;t dare clean a coin that I want for my collection.&nbsp; Should I leave it as-is or send it to someone?</p><p><br /></p><p>The second from right (1921-P) is the one with the chunks on the reverse (PVC?).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The far left is the one I said looks more like toning than dirt (1879-S).</p><p><br /></p><p>I did look up the 1888-P when I got home.&nbsp; I missed seeing many scratches and die gouges in the store. I think it&#039;s a VAM-7A.&nbsp; I&#039;m going to post a few of these in the WHATS IT WORTH section.&nbsp; I haved VAM value lists, but don&#039;t know the grade (and there&#039;s a big value difference in a couple of these).</p><p><br /></p><p>Norm[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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