I picked up this Morgan the other day. I had bought it for the condition and toning, but when I looked closer I noticed something different. It looks like the date was re-punched and The S mintmark looks different. I know the picture is fuzzy but the top loop in the S is not clean. It almost looks like its not a clean strike. I have heard of VAM but don't know enough about it. And I don't know if this is a VAM or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated. And here is a whole picture of the coin if that helps. Thanks for any info. anyone can give.
VAM is an acronym for the authors of the book on Morgan and Peace Dollar varieties - Van Allen & Mallis. It's hard to tell anything from your photos. Regarding the doubing on the date, are you referring to the "ghost image" below the numbers? If so, that is relatively common on Morgans that have toned, and it is not doubling. As for the mintmark, there are a number of listings on VAMWorld for repunched mintmarks (RPM's). Since your photo is so blurry, the only thing I can suggest is that you compare your coin (in-hand) to the listings to see if you can find a match from the descriptions. Keep in mind, that when trying to match a Morgan (or Peace) to as a specific variety, you often need to examine the entire coin for markers that associate it with a specific die pair. Here is the VAMWorld listings for the 1881-S......... http://www.vamworld.com/1881-S+VAMs Chris
