1880-S VAM-7A

Description

Brent Fogelberg's March 2021 discovery, VAM-7A for the 1880-S Morgan dollar bears the compound description "Doubled Date, S/S Left inside, Acid Treated Leaves," documenting three distinct die characteristics in a single marriage. The classification III2 4 - C3d with die point (188) places this within the doubled date obverse grouping paired with a reverse die that has undergone acid treatment — a Mint practice where mild acid was applied to die surfaces to strengthen design elements that had been weakened by overpolishing. On the reverse, acid-treated leaves appear opposite the ON, U, and NI of the inscription, where the polishing to remove clash marks or extend die life had abraded the wreath detail to the point where chemical retreatment was deemed necessary to restore adequate relief for striking. The S/S left inside mintmark component documents a repunched San Francisco mintmark where the initial S impression sits to the left and inside the corrected final position, a positioning error that occurred during the hand-application of mintmarks to individual working dies. San Francisco struck 8,900,000 Morgan dollars in 1880, a substantial output that produced the complex web of die marriages VAM researchers have been cataloging since the 1960s. The acid treatment practice, while effective at restoring design sharpness, left characteristic textural differences on the treated surfaces — a slightly rougher or more granular appearance compared to the surrounding polished areas — that experienced VAM collectors learn to recognize as a die preparation indicator rather than a post-striking environmental effect.

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