Whether you are new to coin collecting or you have been around for 40 years,  there is a chance that you can benefit from the information in this little monograph.  In the area of Morgan and Peace Dollars, there is a term that comes up quite often that can very often confuse those who are unfamiliar with the term.

The acronym VAM stands for Van Allen and Mallis, and it came about when Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis wrote a book together back in the 1960's called the US Morgan & Peace Silver Dollars: The Comprehensive Catalogue and Encyclopedia.  This book is more commonly referred to as the VAM book.  It has been updated several times and no less than 13 other books have been written in supplement, or shall I say, refinement of the book. 

So what is a VAM?  In its simplest definition, a VAM defines a pair of dies used to strike a certain date and mint mark combination of a Morgan or Peace dollar.  Every date/MM combination begins with VAM 1 and for each different die pair that was found for that date/MM, a subsequent VAM--VAM 2, VAM 3, VAM 4, et. al., was assigned.  For some dates, the list is vast, like in 1921, where there were 40 million coins struck in Philadelphia alone.  If you assume that for a silver dollar the maximum die life is 100,000 coins, if all goes well, then there were at least 400 obverse and reverse dies.  Also, keep in mind that the mint does not swap them both out at the same time.  Often the obverse die wears out faster than the reverse, or vice-versa, so there are going to be many combinations and permutations.

There are more factors that come up in assigning VAMs.  During the life of a particular die, things occur that change the die significantly.  For instance, major clashing, die breaks, die chips, etc.  Sometimes these things will cause a new VAM to be assigned, such as the VAM 1A, which may be the VAM 1 with a large die crack with a blob of metal that is visible to the naked eye showing.  Or perhaps, a die clash that is so strong that letters from the reverse die are transferred to the obverse die, so that on all subsequent strikings of that die pair, the coins have things from the reverse of the coin showing on the obverse and vice-versa.  Many really neat VAMs exist with these type features. 

Some of the rarest and most valuable coins in the series are coins that have tremendous die doubling or die breaks, or superb clashes.  These type things often caused the mint to take the dies out of service very quickly, and therefore the coins are rare.  Imagine a major clash occurs, and the press attendant happens to be right there at the time.  Perhaps only 20-30, or a few hundred coins are struck before he stops the press and changes at least one die.  Well, there is an instant rarity.  If the coin has amazing "wow appeal" then these coins may be very, very valuable.

VAMs are a rapidly growing part of the Morgan and Peace dollar collectorship, and you may be simply astounded by some of the prices brought by these coins.  There are common dated Morgans that in AU condition might be 16-25 dollars that are worth many thousands if they are the right VAM. 

So, are you interested?

Ash Harrison
President, Society of Silver Dollar Collectors
Governor, National Silver Dollar Roundtable
ash@ashmore.com