1878-S 19A II 14 · B2w (Doubled Motto, Die Gouge Cap, Engraved Wing Feather) (181) I-2 R-6
Reverse B2w– Arm of R completely missing in TRUST with open G in God. Die extremely over polished with letters of UNITED STATES very shallow and a number of leaves disconnected in wreath. Small dots of metal all over eagle.

This is the LDS of the 1878-S VAM-19A.


Close up of die gouge on cap

Close up of r in trust


1878 8 tail feather vam 7

Spiked A The 'E' in 'E PLURIBUS is tripled.
The '7' in the date is doubled on the left side and tripled at the bottom.



Close up of 7



Close up of Spiked A



1878-CC VAM-2

Die Chip on Nose (Doubled LIBERTY) Circle die crack



For those interested a couple links on Morgan VAM's VAMWorld at Wikispaces. And updates at Ashmore's coin site.

1878-P VAM-39 7/8 Tailfeather 7/5 variety HIT List 40

Vam-39 is a 7/8 tailfeather variety that shows five tailfeathers emerging below the strong 7 feathers. Another attribution feature is looking at the underside of the olive branch to the left of the eagle and above the arrow feathers.

I'm going to start a little trip thru some VAM's. It may take me a little time though.
Even a VAM 1 is still a VAM I won't be including the Normal die set except this one.

1879 O morgan
VAM 1
Closed 9 ob III 2 1 C2a normal rev

Very nice. Thanks for letting us come along on this trip. Nice Morgans.

1879-S VAM-18 Doubled Date

18 III2 9 - C3b (Doubled Date) I-2 R-3
Obverse III2 9 - 1 doubled at top right, 8 doubled at bottom right, 7 doubled on bottom of serif, right side of shaft plus botom, and 9 doubled to the left.

1880 S

Vam 34
S mint mark set to left and entire date slightly doubled




1880 S

VAM 11 Hot 50 1880/79-S overdate


Top and favoring the right side polish lines. The 1880/79-S overdate marker.



1880-CC VAM-4 Reverse of 78 Overdate

This coin is a Top 100 Morgan VAM

4 III2 3 - B2a (80/79) (178) I-5 R-4
Obverse III2 3- The bottom of the 7's crossbar shows in the upper loop of the second 8 and the stem of the seven shows inside the lower loop. The remains of the 9 shows within the 0 in the top left and bottom and abulge shows outside at 10 o'clock. 1 has die chip at top right of shaft. First 8 has vertical polishing marks inside partially filled loops.
Reverse B2a - Parallel arrow feathers with centered small CC mint mark.

VAM-4 is an 80/79 Overdate. This overdate coin has a strong 79 remaining under the 80 in the date. The reverse has an 1878 design with the top of the arrow feathers running parallel to the arrow shaft rather than the typical 1879 onward design that has angled feathers.

1881 O
III 2 1 obverse C3f-II reverse Vam 8 tilted right mint mark



1881 S
vam 55 s over s

1882 O over S mint mark
VAM 3 die scratches/gouges in the hair below the ear.



1882 O VAM 22 22 III2 11 - C3j (Doubled 82 and Reverse) (176) I-3 R-3



1882 s
VAM 20 Doubled Date, S Tilted Far Left




1882 s
VAM 28 S S Lower Loop

1883 O
VAM 1A Die flake in lower loop of first 8 and under lower right outside



1883 O
vam 43 with a dash under the second 8 and doubled ear NGC 63



Edit add
1883 cc gsa dollar
Dash under second 8 VAM 6 Also has the 18 date doubling.

1884 o
Vam 13 O over O mint mark centered high



Close up of mint mark


1884 s
obverseIII-2-2 Reverse c3-IV s mintmark repunched and shifted left VAM 11



Edit add

1884 CC gsa dollar
VAM 8 tilted left CC



Close up of mint mark


This one is a NGC certified struck though error. But not listed is also a VAM-5 Far Date 5 III2 4-C3a (Far Date) (181) I-1 R-2 Date set further right than normal. II O oval mint mark. Opening filled almost flush.






1884 O VAM 16 Very far date



Got way too many 1884 O's

Just a place holder for 1885

Place holder for 1886

1887
VAM 5 also known as Breen 5594 Double date (Top 100 VAM) got two of these.



1887
VAM 12 Gator eye (Top 100 Morgan VAM)



1887 O
VAM 2 Doubled 1 and tripled 7 date One of the largest date shifts known (Top 100 Morgan VAM)

1888
Vam 8 near and high date



Close up of date

1889
Vam 5 Far date






1889
VAM-9a, Far, slanted date, polishing lines liberty head


Date

Close up of lips and nose

Close up of eye

1890 O
Vam 4 doubled 0 in 1890


1890 O
Vam 7 (Slanted date)




1890
Slanted date Vam 14



1890 CC
I have two of these
VAM 4 Carson city Tailbar die gouge variety


Need to take a new picture of this one.

1891 place holder

1892 place holder

1893 cc
VAM-2 CC Tilted Right

1894 place holder

1895


1895 S VAM 2

2 III2 1- C3b (S Tilted Right) I-2 R-2
Reverse C3b- Normal die with S mint mark tilted to the right

1896-P VAM-19 "8" in Denticles

This coin is a Top 100 Morgan VAM.

19 III219 · C3a (8 in Denticles) (190) I-3 R-5
Obverse III219– Top of 8 appears in two denticle spaces just below 8 as two raised and curved bars. Date slightly slanted with 1 closest to rim.

One of several Morgan dollar misplaced dates. Here the '8' was repunched and appears in the denticles. The other digits are not visible. The date has a mild slant, rising to the right. Not terribly difficult to find, but gets scarce in MS64 and above.




Close up of 8 in denticles. The part of the 8 marked shows up well in this picture where the arrow is. The other side of the 8 does not show up well in it though.


The reverse, the wreath bow shows doubling on the inside and the branch to the left is doubled on the top:

very nice collection!!

1897 S
VAM 4 die gouge through wreath PCGS green rattler



1897 0
VAM 8a Die break below D

1898 o
Vam 4 O mint mark centered high

I have two of these.
First one
1899 o
Doubled 1 on 1899
Die crack on back VAM 20 also has die doubling around the "states of America"




Second one
1899 o
Doubled 1 on 1899
Die crack on back VAM 20 also has die doubling around the "states of America"

1900-O VAM-21 Near Date, High O 21 III2 5 - C3l (Near Date, High O) (190) I-2 R-3 Date set further left than normal. Open 9. Some show high die crack through tops of ED STATES OF.



1900 O
VAM 8 O over O over CC shifted left and rust pitting at mint mark (Top 100 VAM)




1900 s
vam 15 S mint mark set right


1900
VAM 4 Low Date

1901 O
VAM 40 Far Slanted Date Cleaned, bought for a little above silver price.

1902 O
2 Olive Rev Need to research this one to close in on exact VAM

1903 S VAM-7 Slanted Date, S Tilted Left 7 III2 2 - C4c (Slanted Date, S Tilted Left) (189) I-2 R-3

1904 place holder

1921
VAM 48 Quadrupled Stars, Wreath Bow Die Gouge (This is one of the mistaken pictures on VAM World This is under the Morgan section. But shows a Peace Dollar. ) BTW note sent for update. (Edit: It has been updated)

Well, thats it on VAMS I have for right now. I'll add others in as I get them.

Most VAMS do not go for a premium unless listed in the Redbook or a Hot 50 Or Top 100. Even those may not have a premium. But they do add an interesting aspect to collecting Morgans.

A little last info on VAM's
They are the result of obverse and reverse die marriages. Several dies were used in the minting process. Through polishing, gouges, die doubling, placement of mint mark, etc there are differences. Some also may be changed during the striking process. An example is a die crack. Most die cracks do not receive a VAM since this is normal die wear. But some may have references to them as identifiers. When whole sections of die come off (Or break) this may qualify as a VAM Such as a 1887 P Donkey tail or a VAM 1A which was a progression from a VAM 1 normal die.

Beautiful Morgans. Thanks again.

Does this look like a Micro O

Its slanted to the right. I will try to get a better picture.

To me looks like a normal O. Look here for a nice clear picture on the two types.

You have great stuff!!!

Thanks I'm still adding coins I already have. Just not ID'ed. I tossed in a couple Carson City's. I can only handle so much at a time. I need to get all the updates to the Allen/Mallis book. Too much stuff missing and mistakes on the vamworld site.

I'm going thru my coins closer now. So I've posted a few more from my original posting. Some I have not completely id'ed yet and haven't posted. A bunch I have not even started looking at. I'm still in the 1878 to 1882 group. And not finished with them. I also am trying to verify several. I had mis-id'ed the 1878 s as a vam 2. (My book is 1976 version with no updates. ) I have found out its a VAM 19A late die state. (The die had been re-polished and metal removed) I'm also going to start adding some close ups of some of them. I've started to help post pictures at vamworld. I hate 1878, 1879, 1921. Just too many vams to go thru, it can drive you crazy. So far I have to take about 50 shots to get 5 to 10 decent ones. I opened up an account on flickr so I could post single coin sets. Here is a set of the 1878 s vam 19A. This is a set on a 1882 s with full doubled date. Originally thought it was a vam 28 but now I'm not sure.

Another 1884 O VAM 16 Very Far Date


Close up with lines showing spacing. Note the line coming off the 1 is lined up right on the line of Very far date. Any more to the left and it would be a far date.



One more 1884 O VAM 16 Very Far Date with die clash reverse by wing and die crack reverse upper left going over wing. Probably a later die state of the same die set.



Like I said got way too many 1884 O's Coin People won't let me put that many images in one post.

Gee whiz Mark, with all these coins having so many problems, are you sure you want to keep them?

Corky (beginning to love Morgans with or without problems).

This is a template to get an idea of what to look for date position. Main thing to look at is where the base of the neck is to get a starting point. A normal date the one is aligned between the left base of the third denticle and ends with the right base of the third dentilce. Near date is between the base of the second and third denticle. Very near date is anything left of the base on the right side of the second denticle. Far date starts from the base of the third denticle to the top of the fourth denticle. Very far date is anything from the top of the fourth denticle right.

Other things to look for in the date area is doubling, die chips, dash under date over date (Remnants of another number left on a die.) and slanted date (When one end of the date is farther from the edge then the other.) .

The coin in the picture is tilted a little so don't let that confuse you.



I'll try to get up one for the mint mark position. Another key point to look at when looking for vams.

Had to post a separate reply. I hit the max amount of pictures allowed per post under the original 1878.

1878 short nock parallel arrow feathers, 7 tail feather VAM 142 Doubled 878 142 II/I 22 - B2b (Doubled 878) (179) I-3 R-4 LIBERTY doubled shifted left. Date doubled at tops of 878 and right side of 7. All stars slightly doubled. P,R,U,U, and M doubled.




Originally thought this might be a 111. The vam site does not have a picture of it.