1898-S VAM-1

Description

George Mallis's June 1965 discovery, VAM-1 establishes the baseline die marriage for the 1898 San Francisco Morgan Dollar, classified III2 1 - C3a with the distinctive "Closed 9" date feature. The closed 9 diagnostic means the bottom loop of the digit 9 physically touches the upper loop, creating an enclosed oval where open-9 varieties show a gap between the loops — a date punch characteristic that identifies a specific set of 9-punches used at the mint. The obverse is described as a normal die of the III2 type, and the reverse as a normal C3 type with a medium IV S mintmark that is centered and upright. San Francisco struck 4,102,000 Morgan Dollars in 1898, a relatively low mintage that makes this date scarcer than many Philadelphia issues of the same period. As VAM-1 — the primary die marriage for the date — this variety represents the most commonly encountered die pairing from the 1898-S production run. The closed versus open 9 distinction became a fundamental classification tool in Morgan Dollar attribution, as different 9-punches were used across multiple years, allowing researchers to link date punches across dates and track punch tool usage patterns. Mallis's original 1965 attribution predates the formalized VAM system, and his work laid the groundwork for the comprehensive Morgan Dollar catalog that Van Allen and Mallis would later compile. The DPIS code remains unassigned, and no emission sequence has been recorded.

External References