1891-S VAM-28

Description

A late discovery attributed to Brent Fogelberg in December 2024, VAM-28 for the 1891-S Morgan dollar carries the die marriage classification III2 20 - C3j, described as "Far Date, Overpolished Obverse, S Tilted Right." The obverse die state III2 20 reveals a date set right of its normal position — the "far date" designation — combined with overpolished fields that have weakened the tops of the letters in E PLURIBUS UNUM, where aggressive die polishing to remove clash marks or extend die life abraded the shallowest portions of the incuse lettering. An obverse die marker consists of a vertical polishing line in the base of the E in LIBERTY, notable for the relative absence of polishing marks in the rest of the LIBERTY inscription. The C3j reverse pairs with this obverse, and the S mintmark is tilted to the right of its normal vertical orientation — a positioning variation that occurred because San Francisco's mintmark punches were hand-applied to individual dies. The DPIS (Die Point Index System) codes B34/C5 anchor this die marriage in the emission sequence tracking system. The 1891-S Morgan dollar had a mintage of 5,296,000, placing it in the middle range of San Francisco Morgan dollar production. George T. Morgan's design had been in continuous production since 1878, and by 1891 the San Francisco die shop had established well-practiced routines for die preparation — yet the overpolishing and tilted mintmark documented by VAM-28 demonstrate that individual die preparation remained subject to variation and human judgment even after thirteen years of series production.

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