I am going to be very honest here and tell everybody this blog is a DIRECT COPY from VAM World 2.0. The only reason I am doing this is because I get many messages from members here, asking me what a VAM really is. Now these people could just go to this site, I always source, to find out but they don’t. I wish I could give back any points but one can’t do that. So, here you go:

� �Today what I would like to be doing is standing in the air conditioned store of my coin dealer with a load of cash in my little hot hand and my wife/conscience not there to rein me in. That’s not going to happen so I am going to show you all the last coin I purchased from him. Below is my 1883-O Morgan Dollar. It is rated as an MS 64. If the pictures show it, you can see it has an unusually strong strike on the reverse. The eagles breast is high with lots of feather definition. Not usually the case from the new Orleans mint. If you have been kind enough to have read some of my past blogs, you will now I am drawn to Peace and Morgan dollars with nice toning. The reverse of this specimen has red, gold and blue on it. It appears another coin was laying across it giving it the crescent moon look. A favorite of mine. The colors, mostly the blue, are starting to come across onto the obverse. Mostly present across the date and some of the lettering on top with the entire obverse has a light golden tone.

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.

Today I'd like to share with you one of my more colorful Morgan Dollars. It happens to be a 1881-O graded MS 62 by NGC. "O" mintmarked Morgans are some of my favorites. They seem to tone nicely. As you can see, this piece has all the colors of the rainbow on the reverse with gold color seeping around the obverse. It appears a piece of tape was put across this Morgan at some point. Most likely to hold it in an album. Interestingly, the coin began toning under the tape. I find specimens like this fascinating! This particular Morgan also has a nicer than average striking for "O" mintmarks. It even has nice defined breast feathers on the eagle. Not seen a lot on New Orleans strikes! With a mintage of 5,708,000 it is pretty common. In closing, I feel the strike and unusually toning make this otherwise common date Morgan noteworthy. As you can see from these photos, I would always opt for scratch resistant TPG slabs.� Thanks for looking and, hopefully, commenting!

I was sitting around today reading some older blogs on our site, not too old just not on the first page. I came across a blog written by CoinLady on 22 Sept. entitled "Good, Not About Good". It's a well written blog and I recommend everyone go back and read it. It got me to thinking about this Morgan Dollar I have and I decided to share it with everyone. It is a 1880 Morgan Dollar rated VG-10 and an attribute of VAM -19B. A lot of people wouldn't want such a low grade and common date Morgan. Personally I found it to be Fantastic. Besides being a VAM, I think it looks beautiful. Looking so nice after all these 137 years is a testament to the skill of everyone that helped to mint it. From George T. Morgan all the way down to the person that bagged it. Do you think a coin minted today will look this good in 137 years? I don't. Rich silver color with the dark toning makes one want to hold it and feel the smoothness of it. Even with all the wear and use it received it still boldly shows all its engraving nicely. Miss Liberty, the stars, lettering and date on the obverse along with the wreath, lettering and courageous eagle on the reverse are still bold and easily read. Now as to the VAM 19B. There are several things that should be can be seen on a 19-B but have disappeared with time and use on this particular Morgan. The one attribute that still stands out and can be seen with the naked eye is the spike going through her hair above her forehead. I will leave it to the reader to research the rest of the attributes. Let's call it a little homework. All in all, while not for everybody, I am very happy and proud to own this Morgan Dollar. It has character and has a secret history of ownership and use that only it can tell. I hope you enjoy looking at it. I look forward to your comments.