1889-P VAM-1B

Description

Cataloged as 1B III2 1 C3a with plate photo 190, this 1889 Philadelphia Mint Morgan Dollar carries the designation "Clashed Obverse n" and was discovered by Michael Ash in December 2005. The defining diagnostic is a partial incuse letter "n" from the word "In" on the reverse, transferred to the obverse die adjacent to Liberty's neck through a die clash event. Die clashes occur when the obverse and reverse dies strike each other without a planchet between them, impressing mirror-image elements from one die onto the other's surface. The lowercase "n" from the reverse inscription "In God We Trust" appears as a ghostly incuse impression on the obverse, positioned where it aligned during the unobstructed die contact. This transferred letter provides direct physical evidence of a specific clash event's geometry — the precise alignment of obverse and reverse dies at the moment of contact can be reconstructed from the position of the clash mark relative to Liberty's neck. Obverse die class III2 1 designates a modified die in subclass 1, paired with normal reverse C3a. The 1889 Philadelphia Mint Morgan Dollar was produced in substantial quantities. George T. Morgan's design places Liberty's neck in close proximity to where reverse inscription elements would transfer during a clash, making this area a common location for clash mark detection.

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