What is a "VAM"?

ledzep87

I am new to the coin collecting world and have been reading some of the posts on this website; whenever someone talks about a VAM for a Morgan dollar....I am clueless. Could someone please explain what a Vam is? Thank you!

coinnut86

Here
and here

search tool is very usefull

btw

XpipedreamR

Don't listen to coinnut86, he's a big meanie. VAM stands for Van Allen and Mallis, who cataloged die varieties of Morgan and Peace dollars. Collecting these series by VAM number is an exciting twist for those who have (apparently) gotten bored with plain old date and mintmark collecting

billboat

I'm a Morgan collector and have had a few slabbed with VAM designations but it is still pretty much Greek to me--VAM stands for Van Allen and Mallis designations of Morgan die varieties. Some are quite valuable. There is are some publications and several websites that list them. It is my understanding that if you become involved in this collecting area there is little hope for your recovery. Good Luck!

eyoung429

There is absolutely no problem with VAM's

I can stop collecting at any time...

See it's as simple as that........

brb....gotta sort today's mail.....what's that honey? Only 20 packages today????

numonebuyer

Since no one answered your question, here it is... Each Morgan ever struck used an obverse and reverse die pair. Sometimes the mint used the obverse or reverse longer than the other. For example, let us say that in 1878 the first Morgan minted used obverse die 1 and reverse die 1. After some time and several thousand strikes, the obverse 1 became too worn and the mint switched to obverse 2. Let us say the first 20,000 Morgans were created with obverse 1 and reverse 1. We will call this VAM 1. Let us say that after the mint switched to obverse 2, that they were able to strike 10,000 more using the first reverse, but then had to switch to reverse 2. The next 10,000 Morgans were struck with obverse 2 and reverse 1. We will call this VAM 2. This continues on and on with each die pair getting a new VAM number.

This is a pretty simplistic explanation. Please consult the Comprehensive Catalog and Enclyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars by Van Allen & Mallis.

billboat

Actually, I did try to answer his question--you, however, did a much better job. Still, aren't VAMs simply die varieties?

numonebuyer

VAMs are simply die varities. Every Morgan has a VAM. I find it a little funny to hear them called a VAM only when they are rare die varities.

DennisH

I like to sum up the concept of VAMs like this:

The Mint used minimum wage employees for years.
Those employees made a lot of mistakes.
VAMs are the evidence of those mistakes.
"VAM" is a bit of lingo we use to make us sound geeky and cool.

slipgate

I must say, the people at PCGS are marketing GENIUSES! They have single handedly created a market where they are BIG winners. Coins that have already been graded being graded again in hopes of VAM designations. Pure Genius! My hats are off to them! I guess they were thinking way back in the 80's that eventually all the coins worth slabbing would be slabbed and they better think of a business plan that took that into account. BINGO! Regrade and reslab the coins that they had already slabbed! And, of course, adjust the grading fees for greed - oops, inflation. Hot Diggetty! Give that marketing guy an bonus.

Their grade guarentee is another INCREDIBLE marketing genious ploy. By intentionally undergrading coins to make sure they don't have to pay off on grade guarentees, they ensure frequent resubmissions of the same coins. Some of the forum members talk of submitting coins 4 and 5 times - why pay $100 to grade a coin? Because eventually these coins DO upgrade.

MORGANHUNTER2

to the boards.


russ missed another piece of



FRESH MEAT!!!!!

BaronVonBaugh