1894-S VAM-8A

Description

Documented in 2012, the 1894-S VAM-8A Morgan Dollar combines a doubled profile with a high S mintmark and a clashed obverse showing a faint partial incuse letter "s" from the word "Trust" on the reverse. Under the Van Allen-Mallis system, this die marriage is cataloged as III2 4 paired with reverse C3d, with Rarity Scale 186. The obverse die designated III2 4 reveals the clash evidence in a specific location: a faint partial incuse lowercase "s" from "Trust" appears in the right hair vee of Liberty's lower hair edge, transferred when the obverse and reverse dies struck each other without a planchet between them. Die clashing was a common occurrence in 19th-century coin production, where press operators occasionally failed to feed a planchet between strikes, causing the design elements of each die to impress into the opposing die face. The 1894-S Morgan Dollar carries a mintage of only 1.26 million pieces, making it one of the scarcer San Francisco dates in the series and significantly less available than its Philadelphia and New Orleans counterparts from the same year. The San Francisco Mint, established during the California Gold Rush in 1854, was known for generally superior striking quality compared to the New Orleans facility. The combination of profile doubling, high mintmark placement, and die clash evidence on VAM-8A provides three distinct diagnostics on a single coin, making it an engaging attribution challenge for Morgan Dollar VAM specialists.

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