Hello all, I am starting the long process of photographing all my coins and was looking at this 1880 O VAM 1A Morgan dollar I have and was wondering if anyone knows what this is (the stuff going on under the right wing)? I see it is also on the images provided on http://www.vamworld.com/1886-O+VAM-1A I tried to rotating a “transparent “ Morgan dollar image over my dollar to see if I could emulate where the E came from assuming that was just something else that came with the strike that made the E but I couldn't. This is not mentioned on the vamworld.com site. Any ideas? I've attached one raw image of the back, and one with a red arrow pointing to the area in question.
A clash mark is what makes it a VAM 1A, so that would made sense. Any idea why it isn't described in the description like the E is? I mean it is just as prominent as the E is. I don't know all that much about VAMs, they are just an added bonus to researching my Morgans.
Aaron, not all parts of a clash are mentioned because, by themselves, they do not warrant attribution. The clash you see on your coin is from the stems below the cotton bolls of the obverse. There are many such parts of a clash that fall into this group...... >the leading edge of the eagle's right wing (viewer's left) which shows on LIBERTY's neck as a diagonal mark >the tips of some of the leaves which may show next to LIBERTY's lips and/or nose >the vertical mark from LIBERTY's neck which shows between the "n" of IGWT and the eagle's right wing on the reverse >the cap vee which appears between the eagle's left wing and the wreath on the reverse There are several more, but unless there is a letter transfer, you will probably never see them mentioned in the listings. The key is that whenever you spot any of these clashes, you should automatically look for one or more of the letter transfers. Chris
