Yes, it's a Morgan. Get over it. What's the grade, and what's the significance? I did not shoot these images, and as far as I know (I may be wrong) they've never been seen in public before.
It means that even Leroy van Allen says this coin is a very hard stage to attribute and I did it in less than 5mins *I think* http://www.vamworld.com/1878-P VAM-80
Never. #Leroy4Life And not really. 85 is the veds of 80 that didn't last too long so... Very rare coin!
So you were, in a sense, correct - it predates 80 in the obverse progression. That's the Discovery Coin, NGC 64DPL. Those images have been sitting quietly in my archives since a month after the discovery, and I don't think he sent them to anyone else.
One of the reasons I posted it was that it's a pretty good photographic representation of reflective surfaces on a Morgan. Not hard to tell that it's plainly at least PL, and my friend shot it with a simple point-and-shoot.
Oh and for those reading this the significance dave is talking about is that this was the first B1 "Long Nock" reverse discovered in 45 years. Discovered in 2010 and the previous B1 discovery was in 1965!
There's another lesson in that. Within days of the release of the news of a new B1, other VAM-85's were found by longtime VAMmers in their existing collections. Even more importantly, yet another new reverse die paired with the VAM-80 obverse - VAM-86 - was found. Any one of a half-dozen other VAMmers, all experienced, could have had a major Discovery Coin (VAM-85 was VAM of the Year in 2010) had they not been complacent and "known" what they had based on cursory examination. Look at every single coin like it's the first of the type you've ever seen.
Early Die State of a VAM80. You need to be a "Vammer" (i.e. Morgan uber-nerd) to understand their lingo ;-)
