Morgan VAM Valuations

sonoranmonsoon

I am confused about something. I am trying to determine a fair offer for an 1896-O Morgan Dollar, VAM 19, PCGS MS-62 (not in vam holder yet). I notice that according to the PCGS set composition rarety weights, if the 1896-O is kept in the origional holder the weight is 9, but if it is put in a vam 19 holder, the weight drops to 4. Am I missing something here. I thought the VAM's would have a higher weight, because there should be fewer of them than the generic date. If any of you can explain this to me and/or help with what would be a fair offer for this coin would be, I would be very appreciative.

BAJJERFAN

Without looking I would guess that it is one of the more common VAM's for this date, hence the lower ranking as a VAM. I don't think that the weighting in one set has much to do with how its weighting figures in another set or subset.

sonoranmonsoon

Both of these weightings are included in the superset. I thought the generic date weighting included all the vams as well as the commons. I guess I am mistaken. Apparently, when the vams are seperated out, the generic weight excludes them. I am making assumptions here. I have not seen it clarified anywhere on PCGS.

DennisH

Sounds like a good question for David Hall.

Yale68

My guess is that it is an inadvertent error on the part of PCGS, and they will correct it when notified. A quick scan of the weights reveals that this is the only case where a VAM is weighted less than its generic counterpart.