1881-P VAM-23A

Description

Discovered in 2015 by Pete Hohnstein, the 1881-P VAM-23A Morgan Dollar combines doubled 18 digits in the date with a die clash showing a faint partial incuse "t" from the reverse TRUST legend. The VAM classification III 2 23 - C3a (Doubled 18, Clashed t) links this to the twenty-third obverse die documented for the 1881 Philadelphia issue, paired with a C3a reverse. The clashed "t" appears in the right hair vee of Liberty's lower hair edge — a position consistent with the alignment of the reverse TRUST inscription relative to the obverse during a die clash event. When obverse and reverse dies contacted each other without a planchet, the incuse letter from the reverse transferred as a raised impression into the obverse die, and this transferred detail then appeared as an incuse element on coins struck afterward. The doubled 18 in the date indicates a hub doubling event separate from the clash — the hub impressed the first two digits of the date at a slightly different position during re-engagement, leaving visible traces of the initial impression. Philadelphia struck 9,163,975 Morgan Dollars in 1881, using George T. Morgan's iconic Liberty Head obverse and heraldic eagle reverse that defined the series from 1878 through 1921. The combination of hub doubling and die clash on a single die makes VAM-23A a dual-mechanism variety of particular interest to advanced VAM collectors who appreciate the forensic complexity of die history analysis.

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