I had a chance to visit 2 new shops yesterday that I'd never been to before. Both had quite a bit of inventory to look at, but as usual, I am drawn to the Morgan Dollars. The first shop had two Morgan Dollars that grabbed my attention, both raw and both circulated. Normally I gravitate to the graded uncirculated coins, but I have not done a variety hunt in a while. My strategy paid off. Here are the two coins I purchased from shop #1. 1878-S Morgan VAM-56 Long Nock 1880 Morgan 80/79 VAM-6 "Spikes" The second shop was a bit closer to home, but I still had never visited it. They specialized in bullion, but had a good selection of numismatics to pick from. Again, my focus was Morgan Dollars. The first coin I picked up was a graded example in an NGC holder and the other three coins were all raw examples picked from the bulk tray's he had. Here are the coins I purchased from shop #2 1887 Morgan NGC MS-64 1878 Morgan 7/5 Tail Feathers VAM-40 1899-S Morgan 1921-S Uncirculated Morgan It felt good to get out and hunt like this. With the life changes I've experienced lately, I don't get to do this nearly as often as I used to. The 1921-S has simply amazing luster, which made it difficult to shoot without blowing out highlights. You can see the reverse has some blown out areas. Had I brought the exposure down, it would have made the coin appear darker than it actually is. The obverse is a bit on the baggy side, but for the price I paid, it does not bother me.
@jtlee321 . You certainly seem to know what your doing with these Morgans. I wish I knew more about them myself. Does Identifying the VAM make a coin more valuable? Sorry, I only own 2 myself. Bored and trying to learn more here in Sunny New England! Sal
Nice finds! Looking at the picture of the toned one (before reading or noticing the NGC logo), I first thought it was like the toning seen in some of the older small Anacs holders.
Make no mistake about it JTlee knows his way around more than Morgans ... damn good cherrypicker... one of the best...
You better like the truth....LoL but yeah ill take the blame for the 38 D addiction... and I ain't talkin tattas...
Learning to VAM can be incredibly good for expanding knowledge. First, it will teach you a bit about the minting process and die pairing. Secondly, it will help you determine authenticity if you can match a know VAM. Thirdly, it can help you add some great coins to your collection, if you come across the harder to find and popular VAM's. Identifying the VAM does not necessarily make it more valuable. Every Morgan and Peace Dollar is a VAM. The VAM number is simply a catalog of known die states and pairings for each year and mint of Morgan Dollars. Some pairings and die states are very tough to find. If it is tough to find and is in demand to collectors, that is what will make it more valuable. Here is a website that you can visit for a lot of amazing information. VAM World 2.0 http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/Home
I've just recently started going through my heard. I'm going to start thinning it out a bit. But yeah, I BLAME YOU!! LOL. They are fun and addicting, especially hunting for the unattributed D/D's and D/S's.
Thank you for amazing compliment. I really had fun yesterday hunting. I miss doing it and I finally had the time to do it.
Well it kept you off the street lol...J/K of course...we had some fun times pickin..considering we are what 5000 +/- miles apart... right coast /left coast...lol we had some fun times...thats for sure.
I like just for giggles get you, C-B-D and I maybe 2 others and hit a big show to see what we could find. John was at the Baltimore Whitman show when I picked a 91cc spiting eagle....in an old slab . I walked up to him at his table and handed him the slab...he like dang that a 91cc spitting eagle vam...im like oh???? I didn't tell him until the next day i knew all along... he makes his living now as a buyer.
That would really be fun! I'd have to go back over some of the coins I used to hunt for. I used to have a list of VAM's in my head that I would be on the look out for, but I have forgotten quite a few. They are starting to come back though.
John had to give up his ebay store when he took the new job...but either I message him or him me to look over his inventory to see if anything was shaking... John always found some nice stuff like this now in the Paddy collection Notice PCGS sort of messed up minor variety lol
Nice!! Half Dimes, Dimes and Trimes have been your specialty. Mine is more in the Morgan Dollar, Mercury Dime, Buffalo Nickel stuff. Together we could pick a dealer cleaner than a carcass on the Serengeti.