Hi Mark, I have a quick question for you on your method of VAM hunting.

How do you hunt for varieties you need/want when at a coin show or shop? Do you remember certain varieties after studying them before going out? Do you know common places on a coin where varieties most likely are seen? Do you carry a guide with you? Or Do you just buy an interesting looking specimen, take it home, and hope its a variety you don't have yet?

I just bought a variety book for Barber dimes and I'd like to go to a table at a bourse or look through a dealer's stock and cherrypick varieties he doesn't have noted.

PS. Thanks in advance.

My little routine is to bring my reading glasses, a 10x magnifying glass, a 30x loupe and my redbook. My Redbook with the coins I have marked to look first for year/mints I need. I look at date (Far date, near date, slanted, high, low, and doubling. Also in denticles below date.) , mint mark (placement, high, low, slanted and lines in around mint mark to look doubling or repunched mint marks.) clashing (By neck, at "V' of hair toward the bottom, below tail feather and in field above eagle. The clashing has to involve letters transfered. ) Those are the pretty sure bets on finding VAM's. Now they may not be top 100 or hot 50's, but since I am interested in all VAM's it works out. Next I do a over all scan for polish marks (On Morgans several VAMs have polish lines on the eagle.), and doubling. Or just odd marks. (When I first started collecting morgans I did not go thru all that and now that I have gone thru ones I already bought I spotted several VAMs I had originally.) It most of the time takes me about a minute maybe a little over to do this, so it really does not take much time per coin. That pretty much covers the majority of VAM's. I use to carry a small list of hot 50 and top 100, but stopped that just because of convenience. I thought about condensing the list a little more and making it smaller for ease though. Anyways I bring them home then start the true Id'ing. Some VAM's I do remember easy enough. Heres a couple I always look for. Any 1878 I always look at the the tail feathers to see if a 7/8 type and the arrows nock, every Carson City 1890 gets flipped over immediately to check for the bar. (I have 2 of these what weren't originally Id'ed.) Like I said in another post I do pick up coins I have not positively ID'ed. I would love to find a new VAM and get to send it to Leroy Van Allen to get a new type confirmed. Having a discovery piece even if its not a top 100 or hot 50 would be a blast.

thanks for the tips. basically just sounds like grading a coin - checking all the usual problem areas, fields, other stuff, etc. I'll check out that method. Too bad varieties aren't as common or prominent on barber dimes or other series (other than sheldon varieties, etc).

Anywho, I know I've asked this, but why do Morgans have so many prominent varieties? Just because people looked?

Probably the popularity of the morgan. Also with a larger coin it is easier to pick up differences. Barber dimes are going to be really tough unless they are higher grade ones. The morgan in lower grades sometimes are tough or sometimes impossible to ID varieties.

So I've complained many times on CP before that I can't find any Barber dimes nicer than VF but below MS 65ish. I just checked the handful I do have and none are dates/mint combos that have varieties listed Moreover, only th 1912-D has varieties listed - RPMs - the book notes that only two have ever been certified with those varieties. Darn. This will be a tough series.

Who knows with a good eye you might spot a new variety.

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

Well, got another "tough" one for my year/mint marks a 1903 O Morgan dollar in about ms63. Only problem my camera is DOA so all I have is a cell phone camera. And so not much of a picture.








Edit: got a new camera changed pictures.

Looks like some nice additions.

Down to 17 year/mint mark morgans to have one for every circulated morgan. Dealer had a 1893 S in about ef grade today and at least I got to see it. That ones going to be a killer! He had several other coins I'm missing, but they will have to wait.

Another tough year/mint. 1893 Philadelphia

Nice Philly dollar.

Very nice pics too.

Where's the S?


Great coin, mark!

All I needed was an extra $4,700 and it would have been mine.

From this years Texas Renaissance Festival Greenman on one side, Celtic Knot on the other. I thought about having him do a off center strike since I do like the errors but it turned out okay anyways. The Celtic Knot shows a die clash from what appears to be another Celtic Knot. I did not get a chance to get pictures this year from the drop hammer mint what made these. (My wife had the camera to photo the nieces there. )

From the coin show this weekend. Did not really see any that jumped out on me. But I did pick up one year/mint mark I did not have and a crescent toner, just because. Also picked up this years silver and clad proof sets. And mint set.


1882 S Morgan


1892 S Morgan. (Did not have.)

Nice Morgans. I like the Tx Fair medal too, esp the knot side.

Another tough year and mint 1893 O. The color looks washed out from the photo but the coin is darker. (I have not gotten use to the new camera and all of these seem washed out.)





Looks like a vam 3 slanted date. It fits the description and the picture on my book, but the one shown on vam world seems to have a little more slant. The O looks a little slanted but I believe within normal range.

I picked up a 1887 VAM 5 double date "Top 100 VAM" only problem I already have one. I really need to keep a list of VAM's I already have. Oh well.





And a 1909 San Francisco mint Philippines one peso from the bulk silver bin. (.800 silver)

Nice going. The Phillipines coins seem to be getting harder and harder to find.

Picked up a few more from the bulk silver bin today.

1919 5 Bolivares





1870 Peru Sol

And one more today from the bulk silver bin.

1947 panama

Where is this bulk silver bin you speak of and how can I get my hand into it?

Nice coins by the way!

They really need to give me a piece of the action. If you ever make it down to Houston Houston Numismatic Exchange.
Kind of an every thing is piled up shop. Probably one of the busiest shops here. Today one guy buying $1,000 worth of silver eagles, one selling scrap jewelry, one buying a few 1 oz credit swiss gold bars, one buying a 1999 silver proof set and some silver eagle proofs, and about 3 more browsing + me.

Well, it's a little far for me (Chicagoland area), so I wont be making it down there anytime soon. Sounds like a fun place though.

Dropped by a new coin shop today. Picked up a few items. 1984 Prestige proof set. (Did not have one, and their cheap. I have the dollar single already.) 1956 and 1960 Mexican 10 peso from the bulk silver bin. And I have been wanting a seated liberty dollar, so I picked up a vf 1860 O one. Common year but right price. So I'll still have money from my casino run, for the GSA Carson City morgans I'm hunting for. Pictures tomorrow on what I got so far.

Okay, heres the pics first the 1960 10 peso



1956 10 peso


And 1860 O Seated liberty dollar

I'll have to post the pics tomorrow for some reason I'm having a tough time uploading stuff. Keeps timing out our takes a few hours. Anyways the coin dealer did not have the dates I needed but had a 1895 S morgan dollar I decided to pick up. Real tough year/mint. Also just because I've wanted one I got a 1921 Peace dollar and a impulse buy of a 1854 russian 50 kopek.

can't wait to see the Peace. I love the toning many 1921's get

Tried uploading last nite. Ended up having to do it before work.

1854 50 kopeks


1895 S Morgan



1921 Peace

That's one shiny 21!

The peace dollar has just a hint of toning on the top left obverse. Getting the 95 s gets me down to 10 left to have all the business strike year and mints left.

Picked up a couple cheap ones this weekend. The Morgan was a just because. (The toning on reverse. ) And the cent because I have neglected the large cents for awhile.

1852 Large cent


1878 Morgan not sure about vam yet looks like it might be a 111 but it does not say anything about the polished wing.

Love the toning, Mark

A missing year/mint for me 1900 O Morgan dollar For a New Orleans mint it has a decent strike.




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.

Very nice, Mark!

I was browsing your collection and noticed that we have two very similar coins: the 1882-S with crescent toning on the reverse. Here's mine:
Morgan dollar, 1882-S with crescent toning on reverse

Wonder if they were from the same canvas bag? And what the chances are of two coins having such similar toning?

If nothing else probably the same storage conditions. I still have not figured out the 1878 yet. It has doubling like the 196 But the Right wing of the eagle is not anywhere as polished as the one shown. Also it has a polished wing on the left side which is not mentioned. The "R" in Pluribus is an exact match with the 114. and the stars are doubled. But the hair is not polished like that one.

One of the dealers I go to had a real nice crescent toner. Sadly he was keeping it for himself. You could make out the weave of the canvas bag.

The 1900-0 is a beauty.

This is a "fantasy" piece. In other words fake. But it was one I had to pick up. La Grange Texas Chicken House token.

I'll try to get pictures up later. But I picked up a 1880 over 79 Carson City second reverse today. (VAM 4 top 100 vam)

Here it is.


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 a bulge 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.

Very nice CC.

I just wish it would not have had all the bag marks on the obverse. But at least all of them are very light. Like most pictures they seem to show the scuff marks off.
It's really getting tough to find the morgans I'm missing. And taking longer between purchases. (Money wise that is.) Only way I'm able to keep going on these is the safety incentive gift cards from work. We get base line cards on a regular basis and special ones for milestones. Luckily they started handing out visa cards instead of walmart, jiffy lube, restaurant cards, etc. Right now we are breaking our previous record. Just hoping we keep it up and might get a pretty good bonus.

Went ahead and picked up some mint sets I was missing today. 1976, 1978, 1985, 1989,1994, (Gets me to having all of them to 1960) and the new 2009 red book. Now to start transferring all the stuff over.

I'll have to wait on pictures. Picked up a couple low cost upgrades on my Morgans today. Both of the ones I had were in the xf or lower range and common years. No excuse for not bringing them to Unc. range. 1881 O and 1901 O morgans. Also from the bulk silver bin something what was a shame. A 1876 Russian Rouble sad part about it. Someone soldered then removed a broach pin on it. A decent "slider" AU/MS if it weren't for that.

Still need to upload some pics. Picked up a 1914 Japan 1 yen, a 1934 Chinese dollar. (Just not sure on both of the dates. They may be off by a couple years.) A 1959 mint set, a 1917 d half mint mark on obverse, and 1833 large cent.

Just get the pictures posted and unless someone beats me to it I'll date them for you.

(If you've got them right, the yen will have a character that looks like an equal sign with an extra line as the next to last character in the date - reading from right to left - and the dollar will have that same character, preceded by a regular equal sign - reading from left to right.)

Here is the Chinese republic general issue Sun Yat-sen Dollar



And the Japanese 1 yen




I'll get up the rest of the coins here tomorrow afternoon.

The Chinese republic Sun Yat-sen Dollar is dated Republic Year 22, which is 1933 on the Western Calendar.

You are correct about the Yen being dated Taisho 3, equalling 1914.