1884-S VAM-4C

Description

Laurence Galbraith's April 2005 discovery initially established VAM-4C as a distinct die marriage on the 1884-S Morgan Dollar, cataloged as III22 C3a with a Far Date and Die Chip Left Side Left Wreath #2 under classification number 187. The reverse C3a designation identified a die chip on the left side of the left wreath between N and I in UNITED, positioned lower than the chip found on 1884-S VAM-4B — a subtle positional difference that initially justified separate catalog entries. Subsequent examination, however, revealed that VAM-4C was in fact the same die marriage as VAM-4A, leading to its elimination from the active VAM catalog. San Francisco struck 3,200,000 Morgan Dollars in 1884, a moderate mintage from the western facility that was then in its seventh year of Morgan Dollar production under the Bland-Allison Act. The elimination of VAM-4C serves an important archival function within the VAM system: rather than simply deleting incorrect entries, the catalog preserves them with elimination notes to prevent future researchers from rediscovering the same die characteristics and proposing a duplicate listing. The die chip between N and I on the left wreath remains a valid diagnostic marker — it simply belongs to VAM-4A rather than warranting a separate catalog designation.

External References