Two new Morgans, need a lot of VAM help with these

sadysta1

Morgan #1 - 1878-S
1878-S pic
This morgan is a double die, there is a nice repunchingon LIBERTY here's a crappy close-up pic

Morgan #2 1878 7tf ANACS MS62. I bought it for two reasons, first it looks undergraded: pic
secondly I think it's a nice vam
some closeups: there is a horizontal raised line (gouge) below the date. There are a couple of other characteristics that remaind of other VAM top 100 varieties - washed out L in LIBERTY, short leaf. There is also footless R in PLURIBUS, and a nice nose job, the nose briidge is missing. Also LIBERTY has a nice doubling

nose
leaf
date

Rampage

First, let me state you picked the worst date to try to VAM. 1921 is easier date.

The overpolished nostril on the 7TF helps to narrow down your choices quite a bit, but at the moment, I am not near my VAM book, so I cannot help you. The short leaf would be VAM 202 or 203, don't recall which one. Yours is not that variety, nor is it the other one, because the leaves on the headdress do not have lines in them. Each of those would be reverse of 79, and yours does not appear to be.

I will check more when I get near the book.

Richard.

PS---Nice looking coins.

MAD4MORGANS

The second coin is an 1878 P reverse of 78 you can see the long nock in the arrow (B1 Reverse). It might possibly be a VAM 84. Below are the attributes for a VAM-84 from the Comprehensive Catalog of Morgan and Peace Dollars (VAM Encyclopedia) 4th edition by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis. See if your coin has these characteristics:

II/I 12 - B1e (Washed-out L)
Obverse II/I 12 - Slightly doubled LIBERTY shifted left, with surface around L flat and detail not brought out. Missing nostil. Doubled E,P,L,U,R,B, and S in E PLURIBUS. Doubled 1,2,3,4,6, and 7 stars on the left and all stars on right. Slanted dash below first 8 and die chip at top left inside of first 8 upper loop.


Reverse B1e - D of Dollar broken at bottom with just two lines remaining. Die chip on Eagle's right wing, 6th feather down and also next to body. Die overpolished with blank areas in eagle's left wing and tail feathers. Clash marks with faint remains of E of LIBERTY below tail feathers.

Please let me know if you see these attributes.

sadysta1

MAD4MORGANS - this is it, your assesment is correct, it is vam 84, what's the rarity? about 90% of the description matched, so this is it, how about the S Morgan???

you guys are great

MAD4MORGANS

The VAM Encyclopedia gives it an Interest Factor of 2 out of 5 "Minor die variety with some interest to variety collectors." And a Rarity of 4 out of 8. Very Scarce (Tens of Thousands)

I agree that yours may be undergraded at MS-62. Here is a link to some grading info I stumbled across searching Google. You might check it out and see how yours rates against this grading criteria.

CoinCentric Website - Grading Morgan Dollars

Having difficulty with the 1878 S. It has a B2 Reverse (short arrow end) but need more info/pictures. Please post photo of Eagle's right wing at bottom. Many VAMs have a certain type of Engraved Feather in that area. Also please tell what other things appear doubled on the coin.

jdsinva

To attribute the 1878-S, we need to see the bottom of the eagle's right wing where it attaches to the body. Once we see that, then we may be able to determine which VAM it is. I agree with the others regarding the other coin, looks to be a VAM 84. Those are generally not hard to find but they usually seem to have above average surfaces and sell fairly well.

sadysta1

I'll take pics tomorrow afternoon 78-S also has broken D (bottom) in DOLLAR

sadysta1

ALso SEVERE pitting on letters UNITED (just letters )

sadysta1

I think also some doubling on the nostrail and eyebrow

sadysta1

1878-S closeups

closeup1

closeup2

MAD4MORGANS

VAM-29

II 17 -B2q Tripled LIBERTY
Obverse II 17- LIBERTY tripled with images to left and right. Doubled eyelid and nostril (Yours actually looks tripled).
Reverse B2q - Feather engraved between eagle's right wing and leg. R in TRUST not broken.

Please send photo of EAGLE's RIGHT wing at bottom next to body/leg to verify reverse for sure.

I=2 R=4 Same as 1878P - NICE COINS!!
(Tens of Thousands)

sadysta1

does vam29 mention pitting on UNITED????

here's the closup of pitting and wing

pitting

wing

MAD4MORGANS

The Engraved feathers look right for the VAM-29 also.

There is no mention of the pitting in the letters for the attribution but they do look cool!!
---
I'm not sure what would cause the pitting like that.Maybe some of the more experienced guys would know. I'b be guessing but perhaps corrosion or contamination of the dies??

Wolf359

Don't think that's pitting. More like die erosion.

Here's an example of a Pitted Reverse