1887-O VAM-27

Description

Discovered by Bill Van Note in November 1998, VAM-27 of the 1887-O Morgan Dollar carries the classification III2 23 - C3a and documents one of the more unusual date-related varieties in the Morgan Dollar VAM census: a 7 protruding into the denticles. The obverse shows the top of the 7 appearing in the denticle border as a raised curved bar in the denticle space between 87, plus a raised vertical bar in an adjacent denticle space to the right. This phenomenon occurs when the date digit 7 was positioned so far toward the rim during die preparation that part of the numeral extends beyond the normal field boundary and into the denticle zone — the ring of small tooth-like projections that border the design on Morgan Dollars. The resulting appearance on struck coins shows fragmentary traces of the digit 7 visible as raised elements interrupting the regular denticle pattern, creating a distinctive diagnostic that can often be detected even without magnification once the collector knows where to look. The reverse carries a standard C3a classification with a normal die. George T. Morgan's design was struck at the New Orleans Mint in 90% silver at 26.73 grams on the 38.1 mm planchet. The 1887-O Morgan Dollar had a mintage of 11,550,000, making the base date readily available, while the VAM-27 attribution with its 7-in-denticles feature adds a die positioning anomaly that appeals to collectors interested in the mechanics of hand-punched date placement on 19th-century working dies. Cataloged by VAMWorld.

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