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DANSCO MORGAN MYSTERYJames Higby of Dixon, Illinois writes: "Some time ago I ordered two Dansco 7171 albums for a date set of Morgans. "One has the usual format, titled "Morgan Dollars Date Set" on cover and spine, the front pastedown having a lengthy discussion of the series, and the rear pastedown having a complete listing of all Morgans by date-and-mint, with mintages of each. The company name and address in Los Angeles are below that. This one was bought from a coin supply dealer years ago. "The other reads "Morgan Dollar [sic] Date Set", with the same on the spine. The front pastedown is completely blank, and the rear pastedown has only the company name and address, again in Los Angeles. This one was bought recently in brand-new condition off eBay. "Both have "7171" at the bottom of the spine. "I'm wondering what is going on here." 
I reached out to "Dancso Dude" Justin Hinh for comment. Here's his response. -Editor What James noticed are format changes Dansco has made to their albums over the past 58 years. These changes hint as to when the album was printed. Dansco first started producing their brown albums in 1966. The telltale sign that you have a vintage album is the back binder listing Dansco's then-existing catalog as well as Venice, California being the printing location. There were two vintage formats. One with one column, and another with two columns. Here is the back of my #7240 Cuba Type and #7124 U.S. Dimes. Notice the copyright year and "Venice, Calif" 
When Dansco moved from Venice, CA to Los Angeles, CA around 1979, they updated the format to remove the catalog and left it mostly blank. At some unknown date, they updated the back binder again to include the year and mintage for the coin series. 
In the case of the #7171 Morgan Dollars Date set album, they updated it again but this time only on the front to include the years covered. 
Given the popularity of Morgan Dollars and Dansco's move to Sumas, Washington, I would not be surprised to hear Dansco reprint #7171 but update the format to reference Sumas rather than Los Angeles. In short, Dansco albums have changed over the years. It's an interesting glimpse into the past, but value-wise there is no premium in the market for older versions of albums. What matters most is what coin series the album covers, especially if it's a non-commonwealth foreign album i.e. Cuba, Panama, New Guinea, etc. These albums easily go for hundreds of dollars empty. This is what curious collectors do - collect, observe, and solve mysteries. Thank you! -Editor
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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