Just got a question about vam identifying and die breaking? 0

[Anthony420]

So I just identified my first Morgan die break Wich would be the 1921d Jon-22 small break above m and I was just wondering if that leads to the vam like helps identify it or dose it just stay as the die break I'm new to collecting so any help greatly appreciated

[Woods020]

Anthony,

To get you started on the right foot I think a lot of collectors have misunderstanding of VAMs. To start with VAMs are from this book by Van Allen and Mallis .

The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars by Leroy C. Van Allen and A. George Mallis

Even a completely perfect Morgan is a VAM as VAMs are a catalog of die varieties. 
 

 

Now to answer your question directly if you meant your 1921-D was a JOH-22 I do not believe there is an additional VAM attributed to that specifically. It could however have a VAM as a result of the die variety. Confusing I know. VAMs are a rabbit hole. If you are serious about Morgan or Peace dollar varieties the chat board on VAM World is full of great guys with a huge amount of knowledge on them specifically. 

[Woods020]

As I was thinking about this more I’m sure I’ve confused more than helped. But the gist is the die cracks are often diagnostics to identify which die was used, but they themselves do no constitute a VAM. Sometimes the VAM can be identified using die cracks as a pick up, but not always. In your case JOH-22 is not by itself indicative of which die variety is at play. Hopefully this makes it make a tad more sense?

[DWLange]

The printed VAM book is out of date, but the website is kept current: vamworld.com

[RWB]

Morgan and Peace dollar varieties by VAM numbers is a somewhat idiosyncratic approach. Hopefully, with attribution and decisions now moved to a small management team, the whole thing can get back to first principles and identify varieties more clearly.

 As Mr. Lange pointed out, the VAMworld site is regularly updated. That is also be best place to post photos for specialists' opinions.