Help me understand this label, please.

in Q & A Forum
I was on ebay and the following coin was label thusly:
ICG Pitted Reverse 1885 Morgan Dollar
VAM-1A MS63 ICG
While I know that ICG is a grading company and MS63 is mint state 63...I am lost at VAM 1A and PITTED REVERSE.
Certified coinage is new to me and apparently there is no "handbook"....I tried to fing it through search engines. I ended up here and have waited 2 days to be accepted to the forum. I hope someone will be kind enough to explain the alphabet soup on the Morgan. The picture of the coin did not show the "pitting"...Perhaps it means something other than the obvious. After all the coin did get an MS63 grade.
Thanks in advance.
Robert
ICG Pitted Reverse 1885 Morgan Dollar
VAM-1A MS63 ICG
While I know that ICG is a grading company and MS63 is mint state 63...I am lost at VAM 1A and PITTED REVERSE.
Certified coinage is new to me and apparently there is no "handbook"....I tried to fing it through search engines. I ended up here and have waited 2 days to be accepted to the forum. I hope someone will be kind enough to explain the alphabet soup on the Morgan. The picture of the coin did not show the "pitting"...Perhaps it means something other than the obvious. After all the coin did get an MS63 grade.
Thanks in advance.
Robert
0
Comments
<< <i>I was on ebay and the following coin was label thusly:
ICG Pitted Reverse 1885 Morgan Dollar
VAM-1A MS63 ICG
While I know that ICG is a grading company and MS63 is mint state 63...I am lost at VAM 1A and PITTED REVERSE.
Certified coinage is new to me and apparently there is no "handbook"....I tried to fing it through search engines. I ended up here and have waited 2 days to be accepted to the forum. I hope someone will be kind enough to explain the alphabet soup on the Morgan. The picture of the coin did not show the "pitting"...Perhaps it means something other than the obvious. After all the coin did get an MS63 grade.
Thanks in advance.
Robert >>
Hi Robert,
ICG is a competing coin certification service. I represent PCGS (the Professional Coin Grading Service), and I won't comment on a competitor's coin except to say that I think you should stick with coins that have been graded by us.
The "Pitted Reverse" is a characteristic of the VAM 1A die variety, not corrosion or damage to the actual coin. VAM stand for Van Allen-Mallis, a pair of authors who popularized the collecting of Morgan and Peace Dollar die varieties.
MS-63 refers to the grade, based on a 70-point grading scale, with 70 being the best.
If I've over- or under-answered, I apologize.
President
PCGS CoinFacts - the Internet Encyclopedia of U.S. Coins
www.CoinFacts.com