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VAM vs Speard Bison
Trinketts
Posts: 1,699 ✭
The Speared Bison is clearly a die gouge and PCGS has a chosen to identify them as such.
I am just curious as to why Morgan and Peace Dollar VAMs are not given the same treatment.
Any opinions?
I am just curious as to why Morgan and Peace Dollar VAMs are not given the same treatment.
Any opinions?
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<< <i>Probably because they are published in books...nothing else. Seems a lot of times if some bogus "variety" gets publicity it suddenly becomes an actual variety and a valuable one at that. Die cracks, scratches, and gouges are a normal part of the minting process and a normal effect of die wear and should not be considered valuable. At any rate, they still are when it comes to VAMs and the world of Morgan dollars. The speared bison thing is just a fluke that people are temporarily geeked up about and it, like many other pseudo-varieties, will pass with time and be forgotten about. >>
Wow. I have not read a more
I'm still waiting for people to forget about that psuedo-variety 1937-D 3 leg nickel. After all, die wear is a normal effect of the minting process.... right? And subsequently, die abrasion is a normal part of the minting process.... right?
And since up until the mid 1990's, all dies were created with multiple strikes from the working hub. So I would expect those pesky 1955 doubled die Lincolns should only be worth a cool penny by now. I mean, since multiple strikes were a normal part of the minting process, then they are just a psuedo-variety... right?
To answer Trinketts question, the speared bison is only one (easily identified) error variety, in only one production year. It doesn't take a numismatic genius to attribute & verify it. So PCGS is more than happy to take your money and slab it in 10 seconds time. Alternatively,
all Morgan & Peace Silver dollars are VAMs, and EVERY one is assigned a VAM number. It is a basic system of identifying the different dies, different die combinations, and different die errors found on the Morgan & Peace silver dollars. There are common VAMs, usually numbered VAM 1, and there are rare VAMs. Not all VAMs are rare, and not all VAMs are valuable.
It takes a great deal of knowledge, patience, and proper information to accurately attribute the many VAM die varieties. There are over 2,500 Peace & Morgan die varieties currently documented. So this is most likely the reason PCGS has not begun attributing and recognizing VAMs. It also likely has to do with the fact that if they attribute a VAM, and it turns out they were wrong, they would probably need to engage their guarantee. Mis-attributing VAM coins happens quite frequently. I've seen ANACS do it, and I've seen NGC do it.
I hope this helps explain why PCGS has not yet recognized VAMs.
<< <i>And since up until the mid 1990's, all dies were created with multiple strikes from the working hub. So I would expect those pesky 1955 doubled die Lincolns should only be worth a cool penny by now. I mean, since multiple strikes were a normal part of the minting process, then they are just a psuedo-variety... right? >>
Multiple strikes are part of the normal minting process, but 99% of the time the multiple strikes occur in the same place. The '55 DDO isn't special because of multiple die strikes; it's special because the die was struck, rotated by accident, and was struck again. It's the position of the multiple strikes that counts.
<< <i>It's the position of the multiple strikes that counts. >>
Yes, I fully understand this. There are many, many VAM die varieties that exhibit doubled die errors in the exact same fashion. I think you just missed the intended point of the comment, but I thank you for contributing to the thread.