1898-O VAM-24

Description

New Orleans struck 4.44 million Morgan dollars in 1898, a moderate output that placed it well below the facility's peak production years but still generated enough working dies to support a substantial VAM catalog. VAM-24 documents a die marriage identified well into the cataloging effort for this date, with the mid-twenties VAM number indicating discovery during the expansion period when researchers moved beyond the most obvious die varieties into the subtler die marriages. George T. Morgan's design had been in production for twenty years by 1898, and the New Orleans Mint — located on Esplanade Avenue at the edge of the French Quarter — was one of three active facilities producing silver dollars alongside Philadelphia and San Francisco. The O mintmark on the reverse identifies the New Orleans origin and provides an important attribution zone, as New Orleans mintmarks display characteristic variations in size, position, and tilt that help distinguish one die from another. The 1898-O Morgan dollar is generally available in circulated grades and represents an accessible entry point for VAM collectors interested in New Orleans production. Morgan's Liberty Head obverse, modeled after Anna Willess Williams of Philadelphia, had reached full artistic maturity after two decades of production, and the dies used at New Orleans carried the same master hub impressions as those at Philadelphia while developing their own facility-specific striking characteristics. VAM-24 invites collectors to examine both sides systematically for the die-specific markers — scratches, gouges, polishing lines, or die state features — that distinguish this marriage from the twenty-three earlier-cataloged varieties.

External References