1895-O VAM-4

Description

Discovered by Martin Field in February 1979, the 1895-O VAM-4 "Far Date" Morgan dollar identifies an obverse die where the date numerals 1895 are positioned further right than their normal placement beneath Liberty's portrait. Cataloged as 4 III2 3 - C3a (Far Date) with catalog number 181 and the Obverse III2 3 classification, this variety reflects the hand-punching process by which individual date digits were impressed into each working die at the Philadelphia die shop before shipment to branch mints. George T. Morgan's silver dollar design, in production since 1878, placed the date at the lower obverse beneath the truncation of Liberty's neck, and the precise lateral positioning of the four-digit date varied from die to die based on the engraver's manual placement of the logotype or individual digit punches. New Orleans struck approximately 12.88 million Morgan dollars in 1895, a solid production figure for the Gulf Coast facility that operated with equipment and techniques characteristic of the era's branch mint operations. Martin Field was among the pioneering VAM researchers whose systematic examination of Morgan dollar die characteristics during the late 1970s helped establish the die variety catalog that Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis would publish in their landmark reference work. The "far" date designation means the entire date string sits noticeably to the right compared to the norm for 1895-O dies, providing a diagnostic that can be assessed even on moderately worn specimens by comparing the date's position relative to the denticles or Liberty's bust truncation. DPIS (Die Pair Identification System) entries and emission sequence data for both obverse and reverse dies remain unlisted, leaving production chronology as an open area for future research.

External References