1881-P VAM-26

Description

Discovered on November 19, 2013, by Lance Newman through the LVA/OCC research collaboration, the 1881-P VAM-26 Morgan Dollar is classified as III2 26 - C3a with a rarity rating of 180 and the descriptive title "Doubled Ear & Left 8." The obverse exhibits doubling in two distinct zones: Liberty's ear is doubled at the right inside and bottom of the earlobe, and the left 8 in the date (the first of the two 8s in 1881) shows slight doubling at the top left inside of its upper loop. The ear doubling is particularly notable because facial feature doubling on Morgan Dollars tends to attract more collector interest than inscription doubling, as the human eye is naturally drawn to anatomical irregularities on portrait designs. Two important cataloging notes accompany this variety: it was a dual discovery alongside 1881-P VAM-26A, meaning both varieties were identified simultaneously or by the same research effort, and VAM-26 specifically has no pitting on the reverse and is identified as a duplicate listing of 1881-P VAM-21 — a cataloging relationship that indicates the same die was documented twice under different VAM numbers, a situation that arises as the VAM catalog evolves and new discoveries are compared against existing entries. The 1881-P Morgan Dollar was struck at the Philadelphia Mint with a mintage of 9,163,975 in 90% silver at 26.73 grams and 38.1 mm diameter. George T. Morgan's detailed obverse portrait of Liberty, with its finely rendered ear, hair, and cap details, provides the design canvas where the doubled ear feature is most readily identified by collectors using moderate magnification.

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