VAMWorld 2.0

They simply did not pay attention - they were under pressure to strike silver dollars and did so with whatever usable dies they had. Expediency.

Does the curvature visible in the recessed denticle area (raised on die) match that of the top surface of a numeral "8?" That match is required if it is an "eight in denticles" variety. (The same applies to all similar claims.)

This quote (January 12, 1882) from my article in the Longacre Ledger might help: "Prior to the last calendar year, it had been the custom of the Mint at Philadelphia to furnish the other Mints with dies of such denominations and in such numbers as requisitions were made for, and as it was usual for ...

Edge dents such as on your coins usually result in a coin being rejected, or given a "details" label by the major authentication companies. Variety collectors are possibly less picky about coin condition and damage than regular collectors. A ring light produces flat uniform lighting that suppresses ...

The Andover, KS drone video of an EF-3 ripping through part of town should be required viewing for anyone considering moving to the tornado belt. Every school kid should see how important having a tornado shelter is in that region. (Along with stronger building codes.)

Where's the "Tornado Alley" flying coin show on the schedule? I know it moves around..... ':)

Broken bottle fight.....nasty scar.

The fine lines occur during minor die repair and resurfacing. This can happen over the full raised die surface (the table) or in small areas. It is likely a "bottomless pit" to try to record/describe these things, as previous poster indicated.

Certainly a good approach. Put the best in the initial volume, then build on a solid framework.

Stopped supporting them when they "blew a raspberry" at education and educational exhibitors.

My purpose in asking about a Trade Dollar book here and on other message boards, is to try and nudge collectors into cooperating to produce a really good, thorough guide to the series. This includes background, series history, economic influences, hub and die varieties, chop and other "regulation" m...

I would like to pose a "Trade Challenge". The two parties involved with this squabble should talk on the phone and do this behind the iron curtain. We are. It is not as much of a disagreement as it may appear to be. Agree. There is no specific disagreement, merely the kind of normal exchange of ide...

The numbering does meets such expectations. That was quite deliberate after doing VAMs for about 40 years. The same with the way the dies were enumerated. It is completely expandable and no issues will arise where the precedence of sub-varieties becomes a mess. It is quite strong in that regard. Ph...

RE: "What it will not have is the historical background and things like that. They are well covered in Bowers' books and elsewhere, as well as in another potential upcoming book." The material of this type is largely obsolete and/or misleading. That is not the fault of past writers - they did the be...

I use the "exact same die pair" for exactly that and I do so because I noticed that the set of words "same die pair" was use to referr to the "same die classification" - and that has proven not to be very helpful in some cases. (It was wrong even...). When I use the "exact same die pair" - I have c...

Have been trying to learn if Trade dollar collectors would support a good historical and variety reference, but so far not much interest. I'd be willing to publish it, but it has to be accurate and reasonably comprehensive so that it has a long shelf-life.

What's the difference between "exact same die pair" and "same die pair?" (BTW - someone named Lecter already picked my tiny brain....)

The long ray, as pictured, seems to be an intentional addition. Higher quality photos should reveal engraving marks. To me, the proportions of the ray are confusing - as if a short ray was lengthened, rather than the long ray being a single unit. Foreshortening of the view makes it clear that a long...

Why would anyone want to do that? They are not regular issues or part of the coinage series. Would one add Ben Franklin tokens to your half dollar collection?

The fuzzy fotos are fairly fine.