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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cpm9ball, post: 1407079, member: 24633&quot;]Okay, let&#039;s start with the easiest part first. There is only one person who authenticates new varieties, and that is Leroy Van Allen. In case you didn&#039;t know, he is one of the co-authors of the &quot;VAM Bible&quot;, the <b>Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars</b>. VAM is an acronym for the authors, <b>V</b>an <b>A</b>llen &amp; A. George <b>M</b>allis.</p><p><br /></p><p>He charges $5 (plus return shipping) to attribute existing varieties, but if he authenticates it as a new variety, the $5 fee is refunded. When submiting to him, you have to explain thoroughly what you see on your coin. He is far too busy to examine every aspect of each coin that is submitted to him.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, here is where it gets tricky. You mentioned die cracks, but most often, die cracks are used primarily to determine the die state, early (EDS), mid (MDS) and late (LDS). A die crack must be pretty severe, as in the case of the 1888-O VAM-1B &quot;Scarface&quot; to warrant attribution in, and of, itself. They are usually not employed as markers for a specific VAM because they can change from one strike to the next. Things like die gouges, raised metal (like the dot on the &quot;8&quot; and the ear for the VAM-9), polishing lines, etc. can be used because they usually don&#039;t change for a given die state.</p><p><br /></p><p>Whether or not Leroy would consider yours a new variety, I can&#039;t say because (obviously) I do not have the coin in hand. It is mentioned in the VAM listing that there are numerous die pairs which have the very far date, so he might just classify it as an existing variety or he could possibly assign it a new VAM such as VAM-9A (or whatever).</p><p><br /></p><p>Chris[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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