VAMWorld 2.0

The site for the registry is registry.ssdcvams.com. You can join from there.

Probably sent his customers a booklet run off on a hand-cranked mimeograph machine with 8 pages of typed instructions on how to search bank rolls of half dollars for silver, repeated himself a lot, and threw in some paranoia for good measure.

Thanks for the feedback information on the ' DOT ', John. I wonder what other reasons there could be for it's appearance. Some sort of test of a deviation in the manufacturing process, perhaps? I know where there's a lot of mint paperwork dated 1884. I have the VAM 4 in 63DMPL and 65. I should real...

Sure looks like it from here.

Agree with your thinking. I suppose the logic is that no die combo would be clashed when installed into the press and the likelihood of them clashing significanly enough before the first planchet entered into the process would be miniscule but theoretical, thus the first coin of that die combo coul...

I recently got smoked on a 1921-D VAM 3A in PCGS 64 CAC in a GC auction. It sold for $1150 with the vig, which is strong 66 money for a 21-D. I have a hard time believing that the nasty rattler with a green sticker on it accounted for all that premium, but the holder market is sufficiently bizarre t...

Yes it is! Nobody has ever dug up the reason behind the dots. The 1875 S16 Indian cent is another with one die inconspicuously marked with a dot, but there's documentation showing it was done to catch a thief inside the mint.

I have enjoyed reading this thread. While it often seems the VAMWorld forum traffic is down, compared to other sites specializing in Ikes (Ikegroup.info) and Franklin Halves (Franklin Lovers -can't even open that site now), VAMWorld is the "facebook" of specialized collecting!! Average posting on I...

I'm guessing that without a die study, there are a lot of dies that haven't yet been described fully. Meanwhile as a clear, strong repunched mint mark on a Peace dollar, it exudes coolness just for that. I just uploaded Leroy's picture of the mint mark on the 23-S VAM 6. It has nothing on the 27-S V...

Might want to peruse these sets:

https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/low-ba ... -1921/2537

Meanwhile, Bunny, you're up.

The first draft of the 1878-S makeover is out for review by a couple 78-S specialists. I've already made changes to the VAM 36 mess to reflect what the actual die pairs are. Dead links on the 78-S page are placeholders. More of those to come, too.

Right and left is a complicated issue on these. I tell the class I teach that if you can eat it, it's from the eagle's perspective. If you can't, it's from yours. Wings and legs are from eagle's perspective. Wreath, legends, ribbon, tail feathers are from the viewers.

Yeah, kinda weird.

The key picture we need here is a close-up of the 1 that matches the one on the VAM 13 page. Going on date position, I don't think it's going to match.

I haven't seen it before, but the "deal" is that PCGS can change registry game rules, including set composition, without notice. The lesson is to collect what you want, not what you're told by a grading service. This was the impetus (or one of the impeta) behind the creation of the SSDC registry. De...

lured_in_again wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 06, 2023 8:20 pm

jae_9b.vs15b.jpg

Very nice cud! A line to get into a local show paints a better big picture than anecdotal doom and gloom stories.

If it doesn't have any of the 7A2 gouges, it's a 7A1. My understanding is the fading of the lines would be too arbitrary to try to list. All it would take is a weaker strike for them to not be visible and then on the next strike they're back. ... Or they fade from wear or crud. The really fortunate...

If you have a true VAM 13, then we can remove the "2 for 1" bit from the description. It can also be added to the registry if it's not there. Let's see the pics!

UNCLE BINGO wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 05, 2023 4:03 am

Roger does this technique have any effect against glare produced from the light reflecting off a TPG holder ?

You can't use it for coins in slabs.

A few general answers: Regarding revealing undertypes in general with conventional photography, what you need is contrast between the surface of the coin and the edges of the design elements of the undertype so that you can see them. If the coin has surface dirt on it, you will have a harder time ac...

I'm guessing what you're seeing on the mint mark is machine doubling.