1888-S VAM-5A

Description

Discovered by John Roberts in 2018, the 1888-S VAM-5A is a relatively recent addition to the San Francisco Mint Morgan Dollar catalog, classified as III2 3·C3a under the title Slanted Date, Die Break Cap. The obverse III2 3 die shows the last 8 sitting noticeably high above the rim, creating the slanted effect that names this variety. A die break with displaced field runs from the Phrygian cap to the second U in PLURIBUS — a progressively widening crack that pushed field metal upward as the die aged. A later die stage notes overpolishing at the designer's initial and through the lower hair, indicating that Mint workers attempted to remove deterioration by polishing, erasing fine design elements in the process. San Francisco Mint Morgans from the 1880s are generally well struck, making die progression features like the cap break more visible on high-grade examples. The 1888-S mintage of approximately 657,000 coins makes it one of the scarcer dates in the branch-mint Morgan Dollar series, amplifying the significance of any attributed variety.

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