But on April 25, 2005, the flagship set of VAM collecting became the Top 97 Registry Set at the largest third party grading company, when PCGS joined other major TPGs in deciding that the micro-O mintmark dates of 1896, 1900 and 1902 were counterfeits.
Some of us were amazed it took so long.
PCGS immediately stopped certifying the three dates. ANACS did likewise, but NGC had stopped five years earlier. This meant the combined 95 examples that were already in PCGS holders (26 1896-Os, 31 1900-Os, and 38 1902-Os) was all there would ever be.
But today the total is less, thanks to a “wanted to buy” effort by PCGS to get back as many examples as it could. It offered strong money for them, but didn’t get many takers.
Steps were also taken to purge evidence that the micro-Os had ever existed:
– All three were removed from the PCGS Top 100 Registry Set, which has consisted of just 97 coins ever since.
– All three were eliminated from the monthly PCGS Population Reports.
– Search links for their coin number prefixes became “dead” and still are.
Despite trying every way I could think of for years, I had not been able to find a way into the PCGS population database to see how many illicit micro-Os were still out there.
But last week a kindly rabbit gave me a magic key that unlocked a secret door: a link to a PCGS micro-O Showcase Set. Once inside, current population data was visible and I was able to assemble the summary table seen here:
- PCGS micro-O pops.jpg (96.04 KiB) Viewed 8511 times
For those of you who were not involved in VAMing in the 1990s and early-00s, the three micro-O dates were a literal treasure hunt. In fact, it tended to be a dumpster-diving treasure hunt, since many were found in melt buckets and bargain bins.
As someone who was there, two coins in this summary table jump out at me: the 1900 and 1902 in AU. If you’ve never seen one of the counterfeit micro-Os in such a high grade, be assured there is nothing that looks “right” about them.
It is no wonder that a submission of three (as I recall) strong AUs – one was an AU58 in my opinion that needed no loupe to yell “fake!” – finally set off the “wait just a minute!” alarm at PCGS.
Before then, the micro-Os had managed to hide in plain sight thanks to decent workmanship and often extensive circulation wear. For example, the average grade of the PCGS 1896-Os in this table is 26, the 1900-O average is 21, and the 1902-O average is just under 20.
Despite being kicked out of the Top 100 set at PCGS, their illicit origin and the embarrassment they caused among TPGs ensure they will always be favorites of VAM collectors. And they are still part of the official VAM Top 100 set.
