Question for VAM collectors

Steve27

Supposedly, the top 100 VAM list comprises those which are considered "important, rare, or readily discernible" and thus sell for a premium. Do you agree with the list? If not, what would you add or remove?

133788 1878 8TF Doubled RIB (VAM 5)
133792 1878 8TF 1st Die Pair (VAM 9)
133806 1878 8TF Wild Eye (VAM 14.11)
133816 1878 8TF Doubled LIBERTY (VAM 15)
133824 1878 8TF Crazy Lips (VAM 23)
133827 1878 Weak 7/8TF 7/3 (VAM 32)
133828 1878 Strong 7/8TF 7/7 (VAM 41)
133829 1878 Weak 7/8TF Triple Blossoms (VAM 44)
133830 1878 7TF R78 Double Talons (VAM 45)
133831 1878 7TF R78 Doubled RIB (VAM 70)
133832 1878 7TF R78 Type 1 Obverse (VAM 100)
133834 1878 7TF R78 Triple Blossom (VAM 198 [formerly 199.1] or VAM 115)
133836 1878 7TF R78 Tripled Star (VAM 141 or VAM 117)
133837 1878 7TF R78 Tripled R (VAM 171)
133838 1878 7TF R79 Short Leaf (VAM 203)
133839 1878 7TF R79 Tripled R (VAM 220)
133840 1878 7TF R79 Washed Out L (VAM 223)
133841 1878-CC Doubled Leaves (VAM 6 or VAM 18)
133843 1878-CC Lines in Wing (VAM 11)
133844 1878-CC Doubled Leaves (VAM 24)
133845 1878-S Long Arrow Shaft (VAM 26-27, VAM 56-60, VAM 62 or VAM 72)
133854 1879-O over Horizontal O (VAM 4 or VAM 28)
7088 1879-CC Capped Die (VAM 3)
7094 1879-S Reverse of 1878 (VAM 4, VAM 6, VAM 9, VAM 23, VAM 25, VAM 34-35, VAM 39, VAM 42-43, VAM 46, or VAM 50-52)
133870 1880 Knobbed 8 (VAM 1A)
133871 1880 8/7 Spikes (VAM 6)
133872 1880 8/7 Crossbar (VAM 7)
133873 1880 8/7 Ears (VAM 8)
133874 1880 8/7 Stem (VAM 9)
133875 1880/79 (VAM 23)
133876 1880/79-CC Reverse of 1878 (VAM 4)
7102 1880-CC 8/7 High 7 (VAM 5) or 8/7 Low 7 (VAM 6 )
133879 1880-O Hangnail (VAM 48)
7116 1880/79-O Crossbar (VAM 4 or VAM 5)
133882 1880-O 8/7 Ear (VAM 6 or VAM 6A)
133884 1880-O 8/7Ear Hangnail (VAM 49)
133885 1880-O Doubled Ear (VAM 43)
7120 1880/79-S Medium S (VAM 8) or Large S (VAM 9)
133888 1880-S 8/7 Crossbar (VAM 10)
133889 1882-O/S Flush or EDS (VAM 3)
133891 1882-O/S Recessed or EDS (VAM 4)
87138 1882-O/S Broken or EDS (VAM 5)
133895 1882-O O (VAM 7)
133896 1883 Sextupled Stars (VAM 10)
133897 1883-O/O (VAM 4)
133898 1884 Large Dot (VAM 3) or Small Dot (VAM 4)
133900 1884-O/O (VAM 6)
42666 1885-S/S (VAM 6 or VAM 9)
133902 1886 Line in 6 (VAM 1A) or Line in M, Misplaced Date (VAM 21)
133904 1886 Doubled Arrows (VAM 17)
133905 1886-O Clashed E (VAM 1A)
42790 1886-S/S (VAM 2)
133907 1887 Donkey Tail (VAM 1A)
7174 1887/6 (VAM 2)
133909 1887 Doubled Date (VAM 5)
133910 1887 Alligator Eye (VAM 12)
133911 1887-O Double 1, Triple 7 (VAM 2)
7178 1887/6-O (VAM 3)
133913 1887-O Doubled Stars (VAM 5)
133914 1887-O DDO, Pitted Reverse (VAM 22A)
42937 1887-S/S (VAM 2)
133916 1888 Doubled Ear (VAM 11)
133917 1888-O Clashed E (VAM 1A)
87184 1888-O Scarface (VAM 1B)
7308 1888-O Hot Lips (VAM 4)
133920 1888-O Doubled Arrows (VAM 9)
133921 1888-O Oval O (VAM 2, VAM 5-6, VAM 17-18, VAM 21, VAM 24, or VAM 34)
133928 1889 Bar Wing (VAM 19A or VAM 22)
133930 1889-O Clashed E (VAM 1A)
133931 1889-O Oval O (VAM 2 or VAM 17)
133933 1889-O Doubled Date (VAM 6)
87198 1890-CC Tailbar (VAM 4)
133935 1891 Doubled Ear (VAM 2) or Doubled Ear/Moustache (VAM 2A)
133937 1891-CC Spitting Eagle (VAM 3)
133938 1891-O Clashed E (VAM 1A)
133939 1891-S Doubled Stars (VAM 3)
133940 1892-O Doubled Ear (VAM 7)
133941 1892-S Doubled Date (VAM 2)
133942 1893 Doubled Stars (VAM 4)
133943 1895-S over Horizontalk S (VAM 4)
133944 1896 Doubled Stars (VAM 4)
133945 1896 8 in Denticles (VAM 19)
133946 1897 Pitted Reverse (VAM 6A)
133947 1899-O Micro O (VAM 4, VAM 6 or VAM 31-32)
133951 1899-O Micro O, Wing Lines (VAM 5)
133952 1899-S Doubled Date (VAM 7)
133953 1900 Doubled Wing (VAM 11 or VAM 24)
133955 1900-O Doubled Stars (VAM 15)
133956 1900-O Die Break (VAM 29A)
133957 1900-O/CC (VAM 9)
7268 1900-O/CC (VAM 7, VAM 7A, VAM 8, VAM 8A, or VAM 10-12)
7302 1901 Shifted Eagle DDR (VAM 3)
133966 1902 Doubled Ear (VAM 4)
7306 1903-S Small S (VAM 2)
133968 1921 Morgan VAM 41 (formerly VAM 1A )
133969 1921 Morgan Wide Reeding
133970 1921-D TRU_T (VAM 1A)

Rampage

Allot of the coins on the list are rare and super rare. However, since the publication of the Top 100, many of those varieties have turned out to be readily available and have little to no premium. The 1887 Alligator Eye comes to mind as well as several others.

Of course, the 1878 VAM 9 is still considered rare, Scarface is considered rare, and the VAM 49 1888-O I think sells for a healthy premium in better grades.

The Hot Lips and Shifted Eagle both sell for nice premiums, too.

DennisH

The list was created with an overriding goal of spreading interest in die varieties across a wider audience. To this end, some coins were included on the list that people could easily find and, hopefully, get excited about the rest of them. The 1887-P Alligator Eye VAM 12 and 1891-CC Spitting Eagle VAM 3 are two prime examples.

As already stated, quite a few of the coins have turned out to be more numerous than originally thought -- which is what happens when a huge number of new eyes begins looking for them. Awareness of the Top 100 concept has also crossed over into the mainstream Morgan collecting community to some degree, which has expanded demand for some of the most obvious coins, particularly in finest-known grades.

There are many other VAMs which are not part of the Top 100 list that sell for huge premiums (typically within the community of VAM specialists), as is the case with varieties in other coin series.

I see that your list is the PCGS Top 100 attribution list. Are you aware that there are three Top 100 coins which are not included on it? PCGS and the other major grading companies used to also attribute the 1896-O micro-O VAM 4 (PCGS coin #87242), the 1900-O micro-O VAM 5 (PCGS coin #87266), and the 1902-O micro-O VAM 3 (PCGS coin #7304) before it was determined that they are all counterfeits. All three are still considered part of the Top 100 by VAM collectors, but none of the major grading companies grades them any longer, and I noticed earlier this year that PCGS has banished them entirely from its Population Report. Those of us who have PCGS-certified examples covet them quite highly, and they rarely come up for sale.

Nickcap

Short Answer is no to removal of any of the Top 100.

Some coins not in the top 100 that are 5 figure coins

1921-D 1X Double Cud
1889-P 23A
1921-S 1B-7 if found in Uncirculated

many more examples of 4 figure premiums exist.

messydesk

The list is what it is. A list of 100 cool and/or rare varieties. There's really nothing to agree with or disagree with here. As Dennis said, it was created to have something for everyone, from easy varieties for people just getting into VAM collecting to some real stoppers that make the set challenging. This was the first effort in 1996 to focus collectors on a small list rather than on the entire VAM book, which was over 2500 varieties at the time. I would say it was rather successful in doing that.

Only one coin has ever been removed from this list, and that was the 1878 VAM 11, which turned out to have been a listing error and doesn't exist. The 1878 VAM 14.11 was put in its place.

BustHalfBrian

There are more varieties that I, personally, would add to the list, and others that I would remove, but you have to remember that that list is just to indicate a handful for rare VAMs, and wasn't intended to include all of the rare VAMs. My guess is that 100 was just a nice, round number.

BustHalfBrian

<< <i>The list is what it is. A list of 100 cool and/or rare varieties... >>



I didn't see this post before I responded, but this is essentially what I was getting at

crypto79

Most of the Peace VAM have not stood the test of time price wise and never developed a active two way market save a few like the 34-d VAM-4