1887-O VAM-23

Description

Discovered by John Baumgart in July 1997, the 1887-O Morgan Dollar VAM-23 is designated Quadrupled Stars, Near Date. All left stars are tripled or quadrupled toward the rim, while the right stars and E PLURIBUS are doubled toward the rim — an extensive pattern of star multiplication that is unusual even within the documented VAM corpus. The date is set in the Near position, placed further to the left than standard, adding a secondary positional attribute. In the late die state, slight rim cuds are visible between the denticles at approximately 7:00, providing a die-state marker. The original catalog description characterizes VAM-23 as "a truly evil mimic of 1887-O VAM-5," a reference to the visual similarity between the two varieties that can trap collectors into misidentification — VAM-5 carries a significantly higher collector premium. Careful examination of the star tripling and quadrupling pattern, combined with the near-date position and the 7:00 rim cud, is necessary to confirm VAM-23 attribution and rule out the more valuable VAM-5. The 90% silver 1887-O Morgan Dollar was struck at the New Orleans Mint.

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