1887-P VAM-1F

Description

Michael Ash discovered the "Impaled Eagle Gouge" in March 2007, a colorfully named die defect on the 1887 Philadelphia Morgan Dollar classified as III2 1 - C3a (189). The reverse exhibits a short horizontal die gouge positioned between the eagle's body and left wing just above the leg — a placement that visually suggests the eagle has been pierced by a narrow implement, inspiring the variety's memorable nickname. Philadelphia struck 20,290,710 Morgan Dollars in 1887, one of the higher P-mint outputs in the series' tenth year of production. The obverse, classified III2 1, shows the date at the left edge of its normal lateral position. This variety carries a complex attribution history: it was formerly classified as VAM-14C, then eliminated, and determined to be the same die marriage as VAM-20 in April 2015. The consolidation under VAM-1F reflects the ongoing refinement of the VAM catalog, where duplicate entries are identified through careful comparison and merged into a single definitive attribution. Die gouges on Morgan Dollar reverses are common enough to constitute their own collecting focus, and the "Impaled Eagle" nickname makes VAM-1F particularly memorable among the many die gouge varieties documented across the Morgan Dollar series. The horizontal orientation of the gouge suggests it resulted from a tooling mark or accidental contact during die preparation.

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