I must confess that of lately I have been focused on my web site and Coin of the Month posts. However, behind the scenes my collection has been quietly growing.

Greetings all, in the area of web design I have come a long way in a short time. After coinsbygary.com launched, VUMC409 essentially turned the keys over to me for the sites future growth. I asked for VUMC409s advice about purchasing web design programs, but he suggested not wasting my money on expensive software packages like Adobe Dreamweaver. Rather I should do all my edits using of all programs, the lowly MS notepad. I did download a free simple editor though to help me figure out the file system and relationship of the .html and .css files. Amazingly, it all made sense, and I started cutting and pasting to expand my site. Of particular help is the website w3schools.com to explain html code. Check out the latest revisions to my site. I have created the file system and framework for all future expansions and have loaded all my Philadelphia Morgan Dollars under the heading Philadelphia Freedom.

Naturally, with all these going-ons, I have not had the time to write of my latest acquisitions. Behind the scenes, I added to my Morgan Dollar set the 1879-CC capped and normal CC Morgan Dollars both grading F-12. In my Eisenhower set, I upgraded an NGC MS-66 1971-D to NGC MS-67, and added an NGC MS-65 1976 Type 1, and NGC MS-66 1973-D Eisenhower Dollar to come within one coin of completing the set.

I am delighted to have obtained at a reasonable price a NGC MS-67 1971-D Eisenhower Dollar. Apart from mint-state silver issues, copper-nickel IKES are very rare in MS-67 condition. The entire copper-nickel Eisenhower Dollar series with millions of coins issued has just 173 coins grading MS-67 between both NGC and PCGS and none in MS-68. The 1971-D represented my best opportunity to own a rare Eisenhower dollar with an NGC population report of 42 coins. Regardless of how you feel about Eisenhower Dollars, you have to admit that it feels pretty good to own a true American rarity.

An NGC VAM-3 1879-CC Capped Morgan Dollar is my first attributed VAM Morgan Dollar. The main diagnostic on the VAM 3 is a large over small CC mintmark, giving the appearance of caps on the mintmark. Other diagnostics commonly show the G in IN GOD WE TRUST filled, and strong doubling on the 1 and 8 in the coins date. In the picture attached to this post, I highlight all these diagnostics. In the past, I have not been particularly interested in VAMs, but I have to admit this coin is really cool. To fill the 1879-CC normal CC slot and complete the 1879-CC portion of my Morgan Dollar collection, I purchased a PCGS F-12 1879-CC Morgan Dollar.

Until next time, happy collecting, and Happy St Patricks Day!

Gary

(PS, I will upload a larger pixel picture to the boards for you to see the detail on the capped CC Morgan Dollar.)

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