RWB

Hmmmm.... VAMs don't have feet --- maybe you meant "Vans?" Actually, trying a bit of humor.

Recently, the numismatic property of Leroy VanAllen was purchased by Dr. Michael Fey. That raises a more general question of how many board members collect silver dollars by VanAllen-Mallis (VAM) varieties? Also how many have tried, but been put-off by the mass of listings and confusion? Merely curious.

They are Federally Chartered. Intended to benefit numismatics, collectors, etc. No, they could nto get your money back, but many feel they have a responsibility to collectors to aggressively inform, defend, and pursue prosecution of ALL counterfeit makers or sellers. They can do that under the Hobby Protection Act, of which ANA was a sponsor. With out that, as you say, "they are a coin club" - and of no meaningful value in protecting the honesty and value of coin collecting.

The coin has too much wear and damage to bring a top price, even though it as and advanced stage of the break. I know little about the cost of certifying Peace dollar varieties; however, VAMWorld members use ANACS a lot because of their lower price than NGC or PCGS.

Here's the OP's bottom photo with a little enhancement. The variety is illustrated on VAMworld at: http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com/wiki/1922-P_VAM-1F "1922-P VAM-1F Field Die Break"

The Royal Mint says: The Trial of the Pyx affects everything we do at The Royal Mint. For more than 700 years, every coin we've produced has been subjected to a rigorous trial steeped in tradition and ceremony. However, the Trial is more than just show. Overseen by the Queen's Remembrancer of the Royal Courts of Justice, it is one of the longest established judicial practices in the country. The Trial gets its name from the Pyx boxes in which the coins are transported. The boxes, in turn, get their name from the Pyx Chamber in Westminster Abbey. For a number of centuries, boxes of coins set aside to be tested were stored here. There is also evidence that at least some of the testing itself took place in the chamber. A stone table in the room is now often confused for an altar but was actually used for testing silver. These days, Pyx boxes are stored at The Royal Mint, which prides itself on being one of the most secure sites in the United Kingdom. Just like the boxes of centuries past, modern Pyx boxes are made of wood. "We have a stock of wooden boxes to ensure we have enough capacity to cover all required samples," explains Gwyn Roberts, Quality Systems Manager at The Royal Mint. "Each box has its own lock, with only the Quality department having access to the keys." The keys themselves are kept in a secure and alarmed room to which only a handful of individuals have access. Members of the Quality department ensure that random samples are pulled from each batch of coins produced, be they commemorative, circulating or precious metal bullion coins. Exactly how many samples are pulled depends somewhat on the coin in question and the metal being used. For bimetallic coins made of cupro-nickel and nickel-brass, one sample coin is pulled for every 10,000 pieces that are manufactured. For cupro-nickel pieces, one sample is pulled for every 20,000 coins produced. For gold coins, it's one sample for every 10,000 pieces; for silver coins, we take one sample for every 15,000 pieces manufactured. Of course, The Royal Mint produces a lot of coins – more than 3.3 billion coins and blanks for distribution around the world – so those single samples add up quickly. This year, for example, The Royal Mint will be transporting more than 16,000 coins to the Trial. Demand for the striking of coins – circulating coins in particular – can vary considerably from year to year. It's not unheard of for The Royal Mint to find itself hauling as many as 50,000 coins to Goldsmiths’ Hall, where the Trial has been held since 1871. A certain number of those coins will be assayed to confirm that their metal content meets each specification. Some of those coins subjected to so-called ‘destructive testing’ will be melted down and their metals re-used in future coins. The bulk of the coins, those that have been handled by jurors, will return to The Royal Mint's vaults and be catalogued. It is from this group of coins that The Royal Mint offers collectors and enthusiasts the chance to own a piece of history. The various coins that have been subjected to the rigorous standards of the Trial of the Pyx are unique in that each will have been handled differently. Some may have smudges from jurors' fingers, some may have minor scratches – each little imperfection, however, helps write the coin's place in history. It is a coin that has played a role in the centuries-old tradition of quality that serves as the bedrock of The Royal Mint's mission. You can connect with that history by browsing the Trial of the Pyx range at royalmint.com/our-coins/events/trial-of-the-pyx. Keep in mind that many of the coins are offered in relatively low numbers. In some cases, only one example may be available. As such, the coins tend to sell out very quickly.

Long ago it was called "The Trial of the Nose Pyx" but was shortened under the demand of King George III who had long fingernails.

Yeah....Whitman called it a "Tribute Edition," I think...or was that the first edition....? (I lose track of these imitations...)

Then yours is an "Outstanding Collection" worthy of envy by me and many others.

Consider categorizing your collection differently: "I enjoy it" "It brings me pleasure" "The hunt for silver makes me happy" "It gets me away from my mother-in-law"

...and ANA is silent. Discussing counterfeiting with ANA reminds me of the old "Mad Magazine" character "Alfred E. Newman" and his popular phrase, "What, me worry?"

Your best option is to search for "mechanical testing" or "metallurgical assessment" on the internet. Not sure how these would be expressed in Spanish. A int simply wants to be sure they are getting the metal alloy or composite layer they are buying from contractors, and that the coins meet their physical specifications. These tests include abrasion, bending, heating, environmental response (such as salt water), malleability, crystal structure, pressure deformation, cracking and so forth. As for documents supporting test pieces as mint products, they are the only thing that can separate "mint product" from "garage workshop" or damage.

Any "oil" will collect on surfaces -- eventually your home will resemble a Greasy-Spoon Diner.

PS: It can also do the opposite by validating and encouraging destructive behavior. This is often thought of as "extremist" but can become "normal" within small groups - even of well-meaning individuals.

Heat, moisture, reactive chemicals and plasticizers are the most common -- oh, and your own fingers and breath.

Complain to ANA -- they are supposed to benefit collectors....

Did they catch the guy who robbed the Waffle House? Did they also get their stock of blueberry pancakes and Western omelets?

Hoghead515 makes an excellent observation with implications well beyond small towns. FBI and state crime statistics consistently rate small towns “safer” than larger communities. This also applies to various ethnic communities within large cities, such a “Little Italy” or “China Town.” The reasons are societal. Small town residents are not more honest or less violent in themselves; they are within a community where recognition is routine and performance of non-standard social behavior is easily identified. That is, a small community enacts a restraining force on the population. As population grows, this social restraint diminishes: anonymity supports animosity; there is only individual restraint to control actions. We’ve seen the growth of this divisive and destructive behavior with the internet and especially “social media” outlets. The perpetrators begin no differently than the small town residents, but without social restraint and “generally accepted community standards” they self-approve their words and actions. (Chemically, self-approval increases the level of endorphins making individuals feel good and thus validating their actions. This is similar to the action of opiates, and some consider it equally addicting.)

...And what would be the purpose of falsifying cent production for 1877 - only 1877 - and also buying blanks to support that quantity? The Mint made considerable profit on cents. To falsify production means to have falsified ALL 1877 profit from cents, and in aggregate, from all minor coinage. I've looked back and found 1868 cents from the same hub but with and without the "shallow N." A little article about Burchard's letter is in preparation and includes comments about 1877 cents and the theory of partial collapse of the hub center. So far, all "sunken N" coins have reverse dies made from the same hub.

They are not "assays" - an assay is performed to determine the composition: "what it's made of." These are common mechanical tests routinely made by mints to ensure the coins meet specifications for durability and surface attributes. Other tests are made to determine if low value coins can be made to operate vending machines by adding metal or altering the physical configuration. Unless there is clear documentation, these are merely curiosities since the same results could be easily obtained in someone's basement workshop.

Good approach....especially when the asking price is "retail."

Seems typical. There are some much smoother and some that resemble smallpox.

Liberty's schnoz is merely one of many failures in reproduction and artistic quality.

The original iron cast is shown in the comparison photos -- it's the one with a faint "#8" on it. There was never a galvano (electrotype of a model). The Mint no longer makes galvanos. They prepare everything in a computer rendering, and the system cuts working dies from the rendering. At times they have entered photos of an original, then prepared the rendering from those. Considering the technology available, it is a very poor translation.

Here's one of the photos with the background color adjusted to gray.