August 2018 - Welcome
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Welcome
Die Fingerprints
VSS Submissions
We are all caught up on posting things to the web site and now have 944 coins with detailed discussion and high resolution images. Our total images for viewing has hit almost 10,000 and will crest that number later this year.
In our last batch there were no toned coins, but in the next group there will be some coins of interest.
PCGS Submissions
We also have a group of raw coins to send in to PCGS that are all VAMs that they certify. This group has been building for almost a year and will give us a little cushion in case some others don't grade along the way.
The 1,000 Coin Mark
For the past year our goal has been to take the collection to 1,000 coins and see where that gets us with a full set of VAMs for this series. We also keep a Collector's Showcase going on PCGS as a way of seeing just how many graded coins we have since some are always in the works with JB.
Well we have now hit the 1,000 coins in the showcase so our challenge is to get the final coins to JB for VAM confirmation and photography. Then we take stock of things before moving ahead.
We have a large group of coins to send to VSS when we can package them up and this will put us very close to our 1,000 coin goal.
LVA Submissions
There is one coin in an earlier submission that will need LVA examination when possible. We also want to get some clarification on several VAMs that we think may be duplicates and we will submit these to Leroy also.
Reading List and Summer Stuff
Our summer activities with children and grandchildren are coming to a close and that opens the door to more study. With all the family doings we had to slow down and hopefully this will open the door to some new study of die cracks and breaks.
It seems like the reading material has dried up, or at least for topics of interest to us. If anyone has a suggestion we would love to hear it.
What Have We Examined?
We first started exploring the world of die cracks back in May of 2017. So we are sixteen months into the study with no end in sight, at least for now. This is proving to be especially helpful in trying to find duplicate dies that were identified as separate years ago and often years apart. Also as a part of this month's work we have gone back through all the dies and associations and traced the information through to the Die Matrix section of the web site.
Obverse Dies and Associations
Die 1 - VAMs 1H, 1J, 1K, 20, 40
Die 2 - VAM 3
Die 3 - VAMs 4, 4A, and 5
Die 4 - VAMs 9 and 46
Die 5 - VAM 10
Die 6 - VAM 14
Die 7 - VAMs 15 and 41
Die 8 - VAM 16
Die 9 - VAM 17
Die 10 - VAMs 1B2 and 18
Die 11 - VAM 19
Die 12 - VAM 20
Die 13 - VAMs 22 and 49
Die 14 - VAMs 24.1, 24.2, and 24.3
Die 15 - VAMs 26, 26A, and 51
Die 16 - VAM 27
Die 17 - VAMs 23 & 28, but with inconsistencies
Die 18 - VAM 21 but may not exist
Die 19 - VAM 30
Die 21 - VAM 32
Die 22 - VAMs 33 and 33B
Die 23 - VAMs 34, 34A, and 61
Die 24 - VAM 35
Die 25 - VAM 36A
Die 27 - VAM 40
Die 28 - VAM 42
Die 29 - VAMs 43 and 47
Die 31 - VAM 46
Die 32 - VAMs 50 and 50A
Die 33 - VAM 52
Die 34 - VAM 53
Die 35 - VAMs 54 and 66
Die 36 - VAMs 55 and 55A
Die 37 - VAM 56
Die 38 - VAM 57
Die 39 - VAM 58
Die 40 - VAM 62
Die 41 - VAM 63
Die 42 - VAMs 64 and 72
Die 43 - VAM 65
Die 44 - VAM 67
Die 45 - VAM 68
Die 46 - VAM 69
Die 47 - VAM 70
Die 48 - VAM 71
Die 49 - VAM 73
Die 50 - VAM 74
Die 51 - VAM 75
Die 52 - VAM 76
Reverse Dies and Associations
Die a - VAMs 1A, 1B1, 1B2, 18, 43, 49
Die b - VAMs 2, 2A, 2B
Die c - VAM 5
Die e - VAMs 7 and 45
Die f - VAM 8
Die g - VAMs 9.1 and 46
Die i - VAMs 11 and 69
Die j - VAM 12
Die k - VAM 13
Die m - VAM 25
Die o - VAMs 36 and 38
Die q - VAM 44
Die s - VAM 62
The logical place for us to continue our study is of the reverse dies as we have exhausted the obverse dies for now. So in September we will pick back up with this study in that area.
Getting Started
Collecting The 1881-O
The 1881-O VAMs