A continuation of my journey for the elusive VAM discovery. I'm sharing thoughts on what experiences I have had and what I have learned to help me get better at attributing my own coins and help me look for something yet to be discovered...

As a continuation of my last journal entry, I would like to discuss some of the things I have encountered as someone fairly new to VAM collecting. Since I have been at this for less than a year, I was certainly no expert and did not have the numismatic background knowledge to just jump right into the thick of things with VAM attribution. I found that a lot of things I struggled with were things that I saw over an over again from people new to the hobby.

I struggled a bit at first and I asked a lot of questions to those who have been doing this for many years. Several very helpful people do it for a living. One of the things I can say is that I have never been exposed to a part of a hobby where people are so willing to help other fellow enthusiasts. Without this help, I likely would have grown frustrated and given it up.

When I first started attributing VAMs, I had no job aides to speak of that could assist me in my hobby save a few web sites. Here are a few things that I learned the hard way:

1. Books are a must. The 4th edition VAM encyclopedia, attribution guides for various sub-sets, and plate photos really are necessary. It wasn't until I acquired all of these items that I had a sufficient reference library to help me attribute many of my innocuous and random Morgan dollars.

2. Standard loupes make life very difficult. Many people use standard 10X loupes, but I found them difficult to use in order to see the finer details. One other thing I found was that as I found 16X and 20X loupes, they do magnify many of the details better but the higher end loupes make it more difficult to get enough light on coin. I was lucky enough to locate a 20X lit loupe and it helped tremendously.

3. In order to see slight digit or feature doubling, I finally had to break down and spend money on a USB scope. Stereoscopes and the new USB microscopes have allowed me to see much more detail than I was previously able to see. The use of standard loupes make it exceptionally difficult to see things such as slight surface doubling on date digits.

OK, so now that I have stated the obvious about a lot of things, there were some things that I learned that have helped me a lot with VAM attribution (still may be stating the obvious):

1. Learn lateral date positions and mint mark positions and tilts. Many dates have these items in their descriptions and the identification of a near or far date can help weed out a lot of incorrect VAM IDs right from the start.

2. If you see something that is interesting and you can't find it listed, take note of it, BUT KEEP LOOKING. More often than not, there are other attributes on the coin that have been listed as a VAM ID. Do not focus on just a single attribute as it can get you wrapped around the axel on a single coin for a long time. If this attribute is not described in an already listed VAM ID, it may be a secondary diagnostic (if somewhat smaller), may be added to the VAM description as a revision, or even given it's own designation.

3. Clashing is very cool and this aspect of Morgans gets the attention of almost everyone. However, clashing in areas such as Liberty's neck and the back of Liberty's cap or in front of her lips are very common and not usually listed as a VAM ID. It is very important to understand where clashing marks on the obverse of the coin match up with the reverse of the coin (reverse eagle's right wing clash for Liberty's neck on obverse for example).

Also, in many cases, for clashing to be listed, there must be letter transfer. This is paricuarly true of clashing at Liberty's neck. Without some portion of an incused letter next to Liberty's neck on the obverse, the clash mark may be ignored.

As an example, there 1886-P Morgans that exhibit an interesting railroad double clash on the reverse of the coin from the eagle's right wing to the "N" of "IN". You would expect to see a clashed letter on the obverse at Liberty's neck, but many with these reverse marks do not. Thus, those clash marks do not warrant a listing. However, there are some 1886-Ps with the same reverse clashing that do have the obverse incused letters and they are listed as VAM-1G. This has led many to speculate that the Morgans without the incused letter are a later die state of VAM-1G after the incused letter had been worn away, but they were still not selected for listing.

However, not all clashing requires letter transfer as can be seen with VAMs such as 1886-P VAM-1C, but many do and it's all dependent on the location of the clash marks and how significant they are.

It is important to remember this point if you believe you have found a clashed die that is unlisted. The discussed areas are not the only areas of note for die clashing, but you get the general idea. There are resources available on the Internet, including a beginner's guide I created that lists them all.

4. Die cracks, die cracks, die cracks. Everyone loves to see die cracks and most automatically assume that means it's some really cool VAM. While it is certainly true that all Morgans are a VAM (even if just a VAM-1), die cracks do not make a VAM listing. They are generally too thin and too small to list. The simple truth is that die cracks are quite common in the Morgan dollar series and even coins that exhibit them are generally listed for other attributes they possess. However, die crack matching can be a very good way of attributing known VAMs by sight very quickly.

5. Die breaks are die cracks that have progressed to the point that portions of metal has fallen off of the die, creating masses on the surface of the coin. They are generall thicker and can usually be seen with the naked eye. However, if you follow any die crack under high magnification, you'll likely come across a few small areas where there is extra metal from very small die breaks. Most of these are too small to list. In order for these to be listed, you generally want to see significant additional metal in the break or areas of the die that are uneven as a product of said break.

6. Die polishing lines and die scratches. Hairline polishing lines are not uncommon and are usually not listed due to the fact that they are not typically visible to the naked eye. For dis polishing to be listed, it's generally required to have these polishing lines over large areas of the obverse or reverse of the coin that are very prominent.

Die scratches can be found when dies in production were nicked by something hard enough to scratch the die surface. This creates a small raised line on the coin. Die scratches are very common on Morgans and are often very good secondary diagnostics. They can be listed as individual VAM IDs when they are found in areas that are readily visible to the naked eye, such as through letters in the legend of the coin or on Liberty's face or neck.

7. Die gouges are also things to look for. A die gouge is very similar to a die scratch, but is generally larger and thicker. Again, die gouges must be readily visible to the naked eye in order to be listed. A prominent die gouge is often a very easy VAM attribution.

8. Strike doubling vs. die doubling. This subject can go on and on, so I'll try to keep it brief. Very simply, strike doubling is a byproduct of the minting process whereas die or hub doubled is an actual doubled die. These two can be very difficult to distinguish with Morgan