1891-S VAM-13

Description

Discovered by C. Logan McKechnie in November 2002, the 1891-S Morgan Dollar VAM-13 is designated "High S Mint Mark" for its defining characteristic: the S mintmark is positioned higher than standard placement on the reverse. Classified as C3c under the VAM system, this variety documents a mintmark placement variation from the hand-punching process used to add mint identification to working dies. When a Mint worker punched the S at a slightly elevated position relative to the normal reference point, every coin struck from that die carried the high-positioned mintmark. Mintmark placement varieties are among the most fundamental VAM classifications for Morgan Dollars, as hand-punching inherently introduced positioning variations now cataloged as distinct die pairings. The 1891-S was struck at the San Francisco Mint with a mintage of 5,296,000 pieces — a moderate production figure for the series. George T. Morgan's design was struck in 90% silver at 26.73 grams on 38.1mm planchets. Compare the S mintmark position against reference images of standard-placement 1891-S dies to confirm the elevated positioning that defines VAM-13.

External References