1878 8tf vam 9?

logger7

I picked up this 8tf Morgan today. It looks like it may be a vam 9, the "first reverse". It looks like PCGS even included the diagnostics on one of their slabs. Am I right or wrong on this?

ifthevamzarockin

Sorry yours doesn't appear to be a Vam 9 and the photo label is from varslab not PCGS.

IkesT

@logger7 Just to be clear, you have photos of 2 different coins. The coin in the slab is Vam 9. The raw coin has the A1f reverse, which means that it is Vam 12, 16 or 17.

Slabbed Vam 9 :

Raw coin w/ A1f reverse:

logger7

Ok, I thought the pointed feathers under the wing was a diagnostic, but must be something else.

IkesT

@logger7 said:
Ok, I thought the pointed feathers under the wing was a diagnostic, but must be something else.

You have to look at the feathers very carefully under magnification - although they superficially look similar, those 2 reverses do, in fact, have differently cut feathers under the wings.

VAMWorld has a very useful guide to the 1878 8TF varieties that illustrates all of the different reverse dies:

http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/1878-P-2012_attribution_guide

logger7

I'm glad we discussed the variety where the extra feathers under the wing are more like pliers than pointed tongs. I saw the variety in a shop last week on a raw coin where the dealer had ID'd it as such but did not remember the diagnostics.