Readers - I'm progressively inching closer to the finish line with the next Bad Metal book. But, I'm missing important content that I don't want to leave out (if possible). That content largely centers around die struck counterfeit Morgan Dollar varieties, specifically the varieties listed below, and which can be found on the VAMWorld website - http://vamworld.com/wiki/Listed_Privately_Made_Varieties. And, of course I'm very appreciative to the handful of you who have been able to help get this list down to these last 8 varieties.
1893-O VAM 9
1896-O VAM 26
1900-O VAM 60 or VAM 66 (these are the same variety, just different die states)
1900-O VAM 62
1900-O VAM VNA-A
1901-O VAM 42
1901-O VAM 67
1902-O VAM 101 (new discovery; http://vamworld.com/wiki/1902-O_VAM-101)
At a minimum, I'm looking for high-quality, full images of the obverse and reverse of these varieties to include in the book; currently, I don't have permission to use images I've found of these varieties and I don't want to take the risk of publishing images without permission (and I don't want to publish composite images from 2 different coins).
What would be even better for me and this project is to be sent examples of these varieties for in-hand study and to take close-up (e.g., microscopic) images of the pick-up points for easier identification by collectors in the future.
Finally, if any of these varieties are available for purchase, I'd love to add these to my moderate collection of related die struck counterfeit Morgan dollars. Any leads to examples (even unattributed on eBay; I do look there occasionally) would be awesome.
Therefore, if you own any of these varieties or know someone who does own these varieties, please contact me and/or ask those owners to contact me about this request.
MOVING ON...It is almost the end to 2023. It has been another great year for documenting new circulating contemporary counterfeit U.S. coin varieties...not the least of which many have been shared here. In early January I will write a long blog post summarizing the reported finds over the last 12 months. This should be a fun wrap-up, and the continuation of a tradition into the future.
I hope you all are having a great end of the year, celebrating the holiday's with family and friends, and you're looking forward to 2024!
Cheers,
Winston
