An 03-O find honoring @LateDateMorganGuy - and a story I'd like to share

[keilg1]

Having had the distinct pleasure of chatting with Alan, aka @LateDateMorganGuy, and getting to know him better as a person lately, I was absolutely thrilled to pick up the following coin.

His original find prompted LVA to get all 'modern' and write things like "OMG! (OMG! is stronger than WOW!)" and "Whew!" when describing it... LVA quipping 'OMG'... never thought I'd see that combination. But I loved it.

Purported to be the "longest continuous die gouge of Morgan series!!" this was high on my list. To find the coin outright but also because of the link back to Alan and his 2019 discovery. An amazing coin, an amazing man (Alan), an amazing story that prompted another amazing man (LVA) to write some anazingly energizing things in the name of the hobby, the hunt, the find and the sharing with the community.

To make the story even better, I've had the pleasure of helping @messydesk with the revamping of some of the VAMWorld pages with pictures he obtained from LVA. John has also voiced his impressions of the coin by designating it amongst the 2020 Dozen VAMs to find, and it is a VAM Of the Year award coin... Another amazing person, and a coin amongst amazing challenge lists that keep my eyes peeled for what experts find interesting.

Good luck on finding what makes your own soul soar. This one does for me. The die gouge along the wing gap and back of the head, the slanted date, the gouges in the lower arrow shaft... all indicated to me a lovely http://vamworld.com/wiki/1903-O_VAM-22. Fingers crossed I typed the variety correctly...

Gary

FCO.jpg (297.07 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

FCR.jpg (299.6 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

03OV22 wing-neck gap detail GRed.jpg (117.63 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

03OV22 arrowhead detail GRed.jpg (80.03 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

[vampicker]

That's an amazing find. Congratulations

[JASONKFLO]

Sweet ! Amazing find .

[messydesk]

Great find! Congrats!

[LateDateMorganGuy]

Certainly that die pair is not easy to find. It is in a lot better shape than the DC. Congrats!!!

[vamnuke]

[alefzero]

Nice find!

[dave700x]

That pick is certainly no slouch and deserves a big "You suck"!

[fogie]

That is a tough coin for sure! Welcome to the club - there are not many of us that can say we have one of them! Grade?

[morganman]

Kudos to your find- Neat to hear/see what various members strive to find.
Since im a 1882 o/s nut, natrually finding a vam 3 or 5 that goes ms65 is quite
the feat, of which several reside at my The oregon collection assembly

Then looking for 40 yrs and finding a few 1882 o/s vam 4EDS has been a
real challenge especially in MS, of which i have a handful only.

[keilg1]

That is a tough coin for sure! Welcome to the club - there are not many of us that can say we have one of them! Grade?

NGC62 which I think is fair. Plenty of bangs across the whole coin that are somewhat hidden in the FCPs that'd prevent it from grading higher, but nice eye appeal.

I see someone has a 64 (!) registered in SSDC (you?). That'd be a major major find. I'm sure there are more out there but only the PCGS64 and Alan's ANACS50 Details DC are in the registry. I find it hard to believe that the coin I ran across will only be the third to be registered.

A good plug/plea for all VAMmers reading this to 1) join SSDC and 2) register all your varieties so we can better know true rarities?

[SilverToken]

Great Find and Great Story.

Every coin, every quest has a story. How did it happen? Where has it been? Is it the only one Left? Why was it never spent? What was bought with it? Did it stay in one town and now found a home with me? And of course, friends that helped you along the way.

You are a wordsmith and it's wonderful that it is not about envy or greed, but a personal "I Did It!".

And I bet, you keep flippin those 03"s

[Kurt28]

That is a really neat VAM. Thanks for sharing.

[fogie]

Yes - the 64 is mine. I have only had 1 more in hand and it was well before "its discovery" - I was not able to own that one. Worked out well 4 me to wait.

[vamsterdam]

A very tough coin. I have only found ONE. Tough, tough coin!