1881-CC VAM-4
Error
Description
Bearing the coveted CC mintmark of the Carson City Mint in Nevada, the 1881-CC VAM-4 Morgan Dollar features a doubled 18 on the obverse — one of the more visually accessible die varieties from this legendary facility. Discovered by Guy Messing in July 1976, it is among the earlier documented VAM varieties for the Carson City series. Cataloged as III2 4 - C3a, the doubling manifests as the numeral 1 doubled on the right side of its vertical bar, and the first 8 doubled on the left inside and lower right outside of both loops. The mintmark is described as a large V-shaped CC, characteristic of certain Carson City die pairings. Carson City Morgan Dollars occupy a special place in American numismatics — the Mint operated from 1870 to 1893, processing silver from the Comstock Lode, and every CC-mint coin carries a premium driven by the facility's limited production span and romantic association with the Nevada silver frontier. Die varieties on Carson City Morgans attract intense collector interest because the relatively modest mintages mean fewer dies were used, making each die pair a larger fraction of total output. VAM-4 offers an affordable entry point into CC variety collecting.
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