1898-S VAM-1A

Description

Discovered by Mitch Hill in 2011, VAM-17A on the 1898 San Francisco Morgan Dollar combines a near date, doubled ear, and S/S mintmark tilted right, overlaid with significant die deterioration. The S/S repunched mintmark indicates the S punch was applied twice at slightly different angles, creating an overlapping impression. The doubled ear — a hub-doubling feature — provides an obverse diagnostic independent of the mintmark variety. A horizontal die crack running through Liberty's lower hair, with breaks above the right 8 of the date, documents progressive fatigue that developed during service. These breaks represent a later die state than the parent VAM-17, and the "A" suffix tracks this progression. The 1898 San Francisco Morgan Dollar was produced during the late Bland-Allison period, and San Francisco's branch operations required dies manufactured and mintmark-punched at Philadelphia before cross-country shipment. The convergence of mintmark repunching, hub doubling, and die cracking on a single die pair makes VAM-17A a multi-feature variety of particular interest to attribution specialists examining multiple diagnostic zones simultaneously. =1898-S VAM-1A Closed 9, Die Breaks Right Wreath= Discovered by Peter Hohnstein, June 2009 1A III2 1 C3a (Closed 9, Die Breaks Right Wreath) (187) Reverse C3a- Small die break in wreath above LL in DOLLAR and small die chip in wreath opposite R in AMERICA. DPIS - ;Emission Sequence :Obverse: :Reverse: Comments: # Die break in wreath above LL in DOLLAR

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