It is also one of my best cherrypicks ever.
- 38587208 holder.jpg (204.18 KiB) Viewed 4087 times
I noticed it the same day it was listed on eBay – in an actual auction (!) amid the massive ocean of Buy-It-Now/opening bid stupidity that eBay has become.
The photos weren’t quite big enough or clear enough, but something interesting seemed to be going on in front of Liberty’s eye. And something even more interesting seemed to be along the front of her neck. I downloaded the best photo, enlarged it, and fiddled in Photoshop to enhance the details.
“Yep, that’s it!”
(my coin-in-hand photo below)
- 38587208 neck.jpg (235.78 KiB) Viewed 4087 times
When I showed the photo and the VAMworld attribution page to my non-numismatic wife she said, “even I can tell they are the same.”
So I bid just under Greysheet and waited. A day before it ended, after I’d finally been outbid, I upped my bid to the lower range of what recent actual sales for the generic date+grade have been at Heritage. Wow, I was high again.
Then Sunday night, with 15 minutes left in the auction, I started watching in real time. I also did 3-minute updates for my wife. More than once I said, “This isn’t going to happen; the VAM is too popular and there are too many people who know what it is.”
But no one else showed up. My high bid never budged. The only thing that changed was when the auction ended and the eBay system refreshed to say, “You won! Pay now.” I don’t know if there’s a record for shortest payment time in history, but I may be in the running.
The current total VAM 1D population in PL at PCGS is just three – a 61, a 62, and a 64. The total DMPL population is just two, both 64s.
C’mon PCGS, reopen so I can get the attribution put on the holder!
(my coin-in-hand photo below)
- 38587208 eye.jpg (236.3 KiB) Viewed 4087 times
