1898-P VAM-16

Description

Among the most recently discovered Morgan Dollar VAMs, the 1898-P VAM-16 was documented in August 2025. The obverse is classified as Type III2 die 16, featuring a date set to the left within the normal lateral position — not far enough to qualify as a "near date" or "far date" but shifted leftward from center. A secondary diagnostic develops in later die states: a lump appears at the back of Liberty's eye, likely from die deterioration or a small die chip that accumulated material. The reverse uses a C3b configuration, and the die pair is identified by DPIS LE3/RH4. The 1898 Philadelphia Morgan Dollar was produced in moderate quantities during the final years of the original Morgan Dollar run, and the discovery of new VAM numbers in 2025 — over four decades after the initial Van Allen-Mallis reference was published — demonstrates that the Morgan Dollar variety population continues to expand as advanced imaging techniques and digital sharing allow collectors to identify die characteristics that might have been overlooked in earlier examinations. The leftward date position and the die-state-dependent eye lump provide a two-stage attribution system: the date shift is visible on all specimens from this die, while the eye lump appears only on later die state examples, allowing collectors to determine where their specimen falls in the die's production sequence.

External References