What Do You use for VAMS?

Comments

• nesvt Posts: 2,214

  November 21, 2005 4:32AM

  Get the supplements to the VAM Book. Lots of new VAMs and changes to existing ones.
  Check out some of the sites available... ashmore, VAMlink, Rob Joyce, and others.
  Join the SSDC, get the VAM-E newsletter, other books, attribution CDs, ....
  

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• messydesk Posts: 20,322 ✭✭✭✭✭

  November 21, 2005 4:39AM

  There are a lot of "add-on" products to supplement the VAM book. The first is the collection of updates to the VAM book, available directly from Leroy Van Allen. This is a listing of all discoveries and corrections since the last printing of the book, plus pictures. He puts this out each year. The descriptions is comprehensive back to the last VAM book printing, but the pictures are only for the current year, so you'd have to order previous years pictures from him as well. It's nothing fancy, just a big pile of Xerox copies you'll have to have bound somewhere.
  
  Moving on to the specialties within the series, there are books on the Hot 50 Morgan dollars, the entire 1878 8TF series (VAMs 1-14.20, 15-23), and the 1878 7/8 TF series (VAMs 30-84). As others will say, the 8TF book is pretty much required for attributing these coins correctly. These books are by Jeff Oxman. If you are into 1879-S Rev. of '78, there is a book that was produced by David Wang that sorts out this series. The VAM book, without supplements, will be useless for these. With supplements, I haven't checked. Rob Joyce, who also posts here, has written a book on 1921-D Die break varieties, which has popularized these interesting coins.
  
  If books are a little "old school" for you, I have software for attributing the 8TF series, 79-S Rev. of '78 series, and the Hot 50. Leroy Van Allen uses the 8TF to attribute coins people send him. You can PM me for ordering information for the software if you're interested.
  

  John
  Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution

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• ccr Posts: 2,446

  November 21, 2005 5:06AM

  To add my two cents, you may want to look into this as well. Dr Micheal Fey is one of the top VAM guys around and a really nice and enthusiastic collector/enthusiast/documentating of VAMS. http://www.rcicoins.com/Insights.asp

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