- 39640388 LFCP obv small.jpg (335.2 KiB) Viewed 1483 times
- 39640388 LFCP rev small.jpg (320.04 KiB) Viewed 1483 times
It was 21 years ago that Rob Joyce discovered a crazy variety that is jammed with features, which he listed as JOH-3 in his 2003 book, "Fun With 1921". (JO stands for Joyce and H stands for Jim Hart, his good friend and collaborator who passed away that same year).
In his introduction to the 14 JOH varieties in the book, Joyce said, “The following coins are additional unique varieties that were not quite significant enough to warrant a VAM assignment.” A bit further down he added, “By definition, the features of a JOH coin are less pronounced than coins that were assigned a VAM number.”
Publication in 2008 of the “1921 Scribbles Attribution Guide” by Leroy Van Allen and Crae Morton introduced the VAM community to a new feature that was “significant enough”, but even without scribbles those two statements strike me as being a million percent wrong in regard to JOH-3. This variety still doesn't have a VAM number – an omission I will submit for review in coming weeks.
As a date, 1921-D Morgans are famous for die cracks. It is their trademark. For dozens of 1921-D VAMs, cracks are the main pickup point. They are so endemic throughout the date that perhaps the only thing scarcer than a 1921-D that doesn't have at least one crack is a 1921-D that is unquestionably prooflike.
JOH-3 is awash with multiple features that some VAMs have just one of: long streaming die cracks; doubled (tripled?) digits; feed finger gouges; crack chips; gouges; displaced field breaks (tiny ones); polishing lines; and even one of the mysterious dots that show up from time to time on Morgans. JOH-3 has them all. And yes, it has scribbles too.
“Not quite significant enough”? Features that are “less pronounced”?
HA!
