� �Thought I would let all know that the grading company ANACS is open again. They are currently running a special on Buffalo Nickles. Unless I am mistaken, that is all three of the main TPG companies back taking submissions. Good luck everyone!

� My next blog has been known to cause controversy in other venues, i.e. NGC blogs. Not only controversy but some people get downright angry. Let’s see how it goes here. Below you will see my example of a Dan Carr Token. This particular specimen is a 1917 Peace Dollar with the original design from artist/sculptor Anthony De Francisci. It is in the original high relief as well as the “broken sword” reverse. There are a couple of facts that I need to discuss now.

The newest Top 50 Peace Dollar in my collection is the 1924 VAM 5A called a Wing Break. Mine is grade an MS 62 by ANACS, In my opinion, this is a very spectacular VAM. It is very apparent, to the naked eye, what is going on. Simply put, it has a large circular die break in the middle of the eagle's wing, on the reverse. 1924 was the last year that the mint put out large numbers of die breaks.

� �The latest pick up I bought at the Las Vegas coin show, a few weeks ago, is a 1922 Peace Dollar VAM-2E2 called a “Wing Break”. It is a member of the Top 50. I am trying for the entire Top 50 set as the variety features can usually be seen with your naked eye. This particular specimen was graded, slabbed, and attributed by ANACS. They are a very popular TPG for VAMs as they list a great many more VAM’s than the other two major graders. It made an AU 55 grade, which seems a bit conservative to me. There is still quite a bit of mint luster and very little wear. Oh well, that’s the way it goes. I usually am not too concerned about the grade assigned as much as the VAM designation.

Today I would like to share one of my Morgan dollar VAM's. Below I show a�Morgan 1888 VAM-11A DBL EAR TOP 100. Now allow me to decipher. This is a Morgan dollar minted in 1888 in Philadelphia hence no mintmark. It is a VAM 11-A which means it has a doubled ear. It also has an incused "n" and a partial incused "I" of "in" next to the head/neck area of Liberty. There are also heavy incused die clash marks around her lips. All these incused marks were created when the top and bottom die "clash" together with no planchet between them. The Top 100 is a list of, in this case, 100 Morgan varieties. It was created in 1996 to help get VAM collectors refocused into collecting only the most popular and significant varieties. It was hoped to stop"micro-vamming" which is the search for lesser, insignificant varieties. It has been a huge success as there are tons and tons of VAM Morgan and Peace dollars. This AU 58 is enclosed in an ANACS holder. ANACS is very common for grading and encapsulating VAM varieties, that the other 2 major third party graders will not. I also chose this coin for the nice toning around the edges and rim of the coin. I like the grade, AU 58, as it is still almost mint state, yet I can imagine objects or services this Morgan may have purchased.. It still has quite a bit of luster and cartwheel on it.. Nice grade in my opinion. I won this particular coin at an auction for a very reasonable amount of money. I believe now is a good time to check out online auction, as many people are saving up for upcoming major shows like the FUN show in January. Thanks for looking. I hope you learned something new and enjoyed the photos. Please feel free to comment.