http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=280208333521

Looks like VAM 29A to me! Will know in a few days for sure.

What are the diagnostics?

(see attachment:)

It might be a VAM-35A, which is worth quite a bit less. I think the easier way to tell the two apart is simply starting at the edge of the left serif on the '1' in the date. Follow down to the denticle right under that point. Now, count the denticles clockwise to the denticle where the die crack/break starts. Three over will give you VAM-29A, four over will give you VAM-35A. Good luck!




P.S.
I should add that to my knowledge the VAM-29A is a later dies stage break, whereas the VAM-35A is an earlier stage die crack. With eBay pictures that are not that big, it is most definitely hard to tell the full details of the coin. I hope you asked the seller for a larger, higher quality pic of the obverse to examine. Being a later die stage, the strike *shouldn't* be as sharp and should be a bit rounded and dull on a coin with that kind of luster still in it. When trying to determine varieties from eBay pictures, it is a good thing to know approximately what die stage the variety should have occurred in to help determine whether a supposed variety should exist in the condition/state that the coin represents. There's a lot that can be done with tooling. Something to think about.

Looks good though from the pics! Again, good luck!

Thanks very much for your feedback, SMS!

I have the 4th edition of the VAM book, and 35A isn't listed there. However, I did count the denticles in the picture, and that is one of the reasons that I decided it must be 29A and not a spurious scratch or something. Do you have an online reference for 35A, or pictures you could provide yourself? I would be most grateful!


Actually, I didn't -- I was hoping that I would win this coin at the regular price for a 1900-O MS-63, which is what it appears to be. And I did! So I am out practically no money on this baby.


Thanks!

Here is a link to vamworld 29a it also has pictures of the 35a.

Thanks, Mark -- this was very useful!

The link to the NGC population report at the bottom of the VAM World page seems to point to a different coin ... does anyone have the correct link?

What I find interesting is that there seem to be very few 1900-O VAM 29A's in better grades than VF/XF. Theoretically, there should be a few uncirculated specimens, even if weakly struck.

Thanks very much for everyone's feedback, BTW!

Found it myself by trial and error:
NGC link
The link in the VAM World page needs to be fixed by someone with the appropriate permissions to edit the page.

I was getting ready to fix it but the link does say it links to coin 77986. I posted a question there asking if the link works for others or if it may just be something you and I are having a problem with.

You have to remove the part of the URL that says "PrintOrder=10727", then it works.

Yep, just finished changing. One of the other posters had a different NGC link to a majority of the Morgan top 100 and hot 50 here. This one has a different link for the 1900 O It has a picture but no prices even lower grades.

Well folks, the mystery is solved! As some of you have guessed, this coin turned out to be VAM-35 and not 29A.

However, I am not at all sad about it because the coin turned out to be very nice indeed With its great eye appeal, IMHO it would easily grade MS-63, and I think it has chances for MS-64. But Liberty's cheek does have a few marks, and there is a slight rim ding at 12 o'clock on the reverse, so it probably couldn't go higher than that.

Here are my pictures (including a detail image around the date):
http://hairgrove-goldberg.com/Gallery/usa-...n-1900-O-VAM-35
The second die crack mentioned in the VAM-World article starting around the digit 9, which is sometimes missing, is very visible on this coin. There are also interesting die cracks on the reverse in the area of the letters around the rim.

Thanks to everyone who pointed me in the right direction!