Hello experts! While fondling (yes, that's the word :yes a handful of silver dollars, I spotted something different. Uh oh! I noticed that the reeding on this 1921 Morgan looked particularly sloppy, while even the well-circulated ones were not as bad. I figured that maybe it had just experienced some kind of wear localized to the edges. However, further inspection revealed that the reeds were not even spaced the same as they were on ALL of my other dollars. I was confident about all of my dollars until I found this. It produces the same "silver" ring when flipped and also exhibits the cartwheel luster of a real silver coin. A rare-earth magnet allowed to fall across the coin's surface slides lazily down, as it should. The coin is not magnetic. So, what is up with this reeding? The first picture shows it in a stack, and the second illustrates how the reed spacing is not consistent with the other dollars. Does this coin raise red flags for anyone? By the way, I will be sure to purchase a scale soon. Even if this dollar is legitimate, the constant news of counterfeits and this little scare are good enough reasons to get one.
Hard to tell from the images but slot machine usage caused the reeding to wear at a higher pace than normal circulation did.
There is a 1921 Morgan dollar variety with 157 reeds instead of the usual 189 reeds. It commands a premium over the standard variety. Start counting... -thecointrader
http://www.vamworld.com/1921-P+VAM-4 There are a bunch of VAM 1921 coins that have this style of reeding, the above link is just one example that shows this style I speak of. I am no pro, but I believe this may help you determine that your coin in question is indeed real and not a fake... It may also be worth more than you anticipated to Erik
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Looks like I have some studying to do! This came out of my dealer's "commodity" dollar tray, basically the ones that he sells for melt plus a couple of bucks. I've just been buying silver and was unaware of VAMs. I'll report back if I find out more about this particular coin during my research.
From studying the content at vamworld.com, I was able to locate all of the characteristics of a VAM-28. From now on, I'm definitely going to take a closer look when I pick up "common" silver dollars. Thanks for the help!
