1889-S VAM-2

Description

Leroy Van Allen himself discovered this San Francisco Morgan dollar variety in June 1966, placing it among the earliest documented VAMs in the entire cataloging system. Designated VAM-2 under classification III2 2 with a C3b reverse die (die marriage 188), this variety features two obverse characteristics: the date is set further right than the normal position, and the digit 9 appears in both a closed and open form, a detail that requires careful examination of the lower loop of the 9 to distinguish. The reverse carries a centered mint mark that tilts to the left, a positional diagnostic that immediately separates this die from VAM-1 and other 1889-S varieties where the S may be upright or tilted in a different direction. A significant relationship exists between VAM-2 and VAM-14 for the 1889-S date: the two varieties share the same reverse die, meaning they represent different obverse dies paired sequentially with a single reverse die during production. This shared-reverse relationship is valuable for researchers tracking die usage patterns at the San Francisco Mint. The 1889-S Morgan dollar had a mintage of 700,000, one of the lower production figures in the series. Van Allen's 1966 discovery date places this attribution in the foundational era of VAM research, predating the first published VAM reference book by several years.

External References