VAMWorld 2.0

Members looking for daily coinage of Morgan dollars will find the information organized by mint and month in the following National Archives documents: RG104 Entry-271 vol 1-5 Coinage by month July 1875 -June 1906. I have placed these on the NNP (Newman Numismatic Portal) for your convenience. This ...

Shipment from Philadelphia to San Francisco took about a week.

This: "Wouldn't it be nice if someone were to lump together all of the most dramatic examples of different listable VAM "types", so beginners could get a feel for what to look for?!? Man, I wish we had a resource like that...." Go beyond the "listable" - those are often arbitrarily, like the 1921 ex...

Please permit an outside dissenting opinion. RE: "These aren't cataloged on their own...." Is one of the omissions that turn away potential new variety collectors. The clear and obvious clashes and cracks are shrugged off, which frustrates new people who "discover" such things and want to learn more...

Enjoy your new bike with the side baskets and bell!

It will help if you post clear photos of the full obv and rev, then go to the details on each side in a separate post. There appear to be several varieties with this, or nearly identical clashing from the obverse. I have a couple showing differing amounts of abrasion/polishing used to partially remo...

The LDS -- and you get a free bicycle.

Hope you paid the server in silver dollars!

Post-1880 documentation is clear that dies were sent out in number pairs and intended to be used together -- at least until one of them failed and the other was still OK. Presumably, a replacement die was then used in sequence. If one follows down the SF die list the number of pieces from each pairi...

Standard silver dollar dies shipments to Western Mints:
April 8 – 10 pairs dollar dies each, SF and CC Mints
April 24 – 15 pairs dollar dies shipped SF
May 4 – 15 pairs dollar dies shipped SF; 5 pairs CC

Here is the March 1878 production by day for Philadelphia. SF and Carson are also available and can post if wanted.
I've also given the complete E-171 volume set to NNP so anyone can look up any year or month from 1875-June 1906.

Members might find this little letter for April 1878 of interest. April 30, 1878 Hon. H. R. Linderman Director of the Mint Washington, D.C. Sir: I herewith transmit report of coinage executed at this Mint during the current month or April. This exhibits the unprecedented amount of $2,010,000 silver ...

Here's some late 1909 cost per 1,000 of various denominations excluding metal. This covers all mint expenses except shipping. It was intended as an example for foreign coin customers.

If you want to corral the "value of the VAM," you'll need two coins in identical grades: one with the VAM and one without. The difference in sale price is what someone might pay for the variety.

"10 Highest Sales of Silver Dollars with VAM Varieties Identified for 2022."

Re: "Maybe Roger has seen some documentation relating that they were returned unused reverse dies?" If you meant me, here is some relevant information. Beginning in 1881 the Mint Director required all previous year dies returned the Engraving Dept. The Engraver then matched the dies with his list of...

"A flap of silver must make a different noise, right?"

Compared to.....?

Try it on dolphins, too. They "ping."

This Congressional inquiry might also relate to the cost of coinage.

Just to add a little -- The "ring test" was one of the standards for a good coin. There are many letters to the mint director where people complain that a coin does not ring and they suspect it is counterfeit. In various responses the mint states that is a good test for cast or base metal fakes, or ...

RE: "I'm sure anything like that would be called counterfeit if it happened. But man that kind of idea no matter how "out there "fuels peoples imagination." A full and open investigation would likely reveal what happened. After all, the Annual Assay Commission 1895-P circulation dollars were likely ...