1884-O VAM-13

Description

Discovered by Bill Lenz in June 1972, VAM-13 identifies a repunched mintmark on the 1884 New Orleans Morgan Dollar — classified as III2 1 with the C3i reverse designation. The O/O Centered High repunch shows the original mintmark position as a curved line centered at the top of the O's opening, where the first impression was placed slightly higher than the corrective second punch. This Class II repunched mintmark provides a clear attribution diagnostic visible under moderate magnification. The obverse carries the III2 1 die with a normal obverse — no anomalies noted beyond standard die characteristics. New Orleans struck approximately 9.73 million Morgan Dollars in 1884, the seventh year of production under the Bland-Allison Act. The 1884-O holds special significance in the Morgan Dollar series because enormous quantities were stored in Treasury vaults and later released through the General Services Administration sales of the 1970s, making this date available in uncirculated condition at prices far below what its 19th-century origin might suggest. Cataloged by VAMWorld with numerical position (181) in the emission sequence, VAM-13's repunched mintmark documents the manual mintmark application process at the New Orleans facility, where each working die received its O mintmark through an individual hand punch.

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