1885-O VAM-26

Description

Discovered by John Kohut in March 2007 and subsequently revised, the 1885-O VAM-26 is a Morgan dollar variety struck at the New Orleans Mint featuring Doubled 18 digits in the date. Classified as III2 18 - C3a (Doubled 18) (181), this variety provides evidence of hub misalignment during die preparation at the New Orleans facility. The Morgan dollar is composed of 90% silver and 10% copper, weighing 26.73 grams with a 38.1 mm diameter. The New Orleans Mint produced 9,185,000 Morgan dollars in 1885, a moderate mintage that places the 1885-O among the more available New Orleans dates for type collectors. The obverse die, classified as III2 18, shows the 1 doubled as a short horizontal spike on the right side of the vertical shaft above the base. The left 8 shows doubling as a fine broken curved line at the middle right inside of its lower loop. These subtle doublings require careful examination under magnification, as the secondary impressions are delicate and can be obscured by die wear or bag marks on circulated specimens. The reverse die, designated C3a, shows a slightly tripled bottom edge of the lower arrowhead, adding a reverse diagnostic to complement the obverse date doubling. The date doubling on Morgan dollars is of particular interest to VAM collectors because dates were hand-punched into working dies during most of the series' production years, and the hub doubling visible on VAM-26 represents a separate phenomenon from the date punch positioning variations more commonly associated with Morgan dollar varieties. The New Orleans Mint operated from 1838 to 1909 and produced Morgan dollars from 1879 through 1904, with New Orleans issues prized for their historical Southern provenance.

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