How can VAMs be worth less?
sunrisew
Posts: 3 ✭
I have a 1928-S Peace Dollar in an NGC slab at MS64. It doesn't have a VAM designation, but looking at the coin, I am confident it is VAM 3 (a Top 50 recognized by NGC and PCGS). I am considering trying to cross it to PCGS to get the VAM designation on the slab, but I have discovered in the PCGS price guide that the VAM version is actually valued for LESS than the straight slab coin without the VAM designation. How can this be? I would think any subset variety of a coin would be worth at least as much if not more than the straight slabbed coin with no variety designation. I'd be paying more for a variety designation to actually lower the value of the coin. Can someone make sense of this for me?
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It's a price "guide" and definitely not accurate.
Check ebay, gc, and other auction sites for completed auctions to get a much better idea of actual sales.
The "spitting eagle" version of the 91-cc Morgan is worth less than those without a little, as they're more common.
Likely a thin market with little price discovery. Makes it hard to keep the guide updated. Check for sold comps on eBay or auctions.
Unfortunately a lot of collectors and dealers won’t pay premiums for varieties even if rare.
It all comes down to supply vs. demand - many collectors overlook the demand aspect. Rare varieties may be rare but often have low demand and low prices. Many coins with high prices are just high demand and actually quite common.
Yeah, I get that, but presumably some of the slabbed coins that don't attribute a VAM are still a VAM, so shouldn't the price guide for a VAM with the variety attributed have at least the same value as the regular slabbed version? One is a subset of the other, not a separate population. The head scratcher for me is that I can pay for the attribution and when someone in the future verifies the registry, they could see a lower value than if I did not pay for the attribution to be on the slab.
This isn’t true in the price guide and I’ve seen no evidence that it’s true in the market either. Auction results support that the VAM trades at a slight premium.
To the OP, if you can cross at grade it’s probably worth more in the PCGS holder with or without the attribution. Might as well go for it. It won’t be worth less with the VAM designation. Sounds like a simple discrepancy in the price guides.
Here's some info on sales. Obviously the rattler cac sold for a premium.
It seems that your concern is more about the value than the VAM, if value is the driving force then cross it to CACG or get a bean on it. As you can see from the auction results posted directly above, either of those two will likely provide a higher value than any VAM attribution will.
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No. If you take the generic price to be based on an average of sales, it could well be slightly higher than a specific, very common VAM as the average will include a range of VAMs.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
All Morgan or Peace dollars are Vams.
Some Vams will bring a premium, most will not.
Being a Vam will will not lower the price of a coin.
Any differences you are seeing for lower prices are most likely errors in the price guide.
I think the problem is that there isn't enough market data and still fewer collectors seeking out specific VAMs to really drive that market and lead to useful market data. The best you can get is sporadic data points and even then you have to wonder if the sale had the right audience.
PCGS price guide values for varieties are not always accurate. From what I have seen, the price guides for non-Red Book varieties are often copied from the regular strike entry, with slight variation (such as not getting price updates as frequently as the regular strike entry)
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