1899-O VAM-35

Description

The 1899-O Morgan Dollar VAM-35, designated Doubled 99 and Wreath, was discovered by Herb Zepke in January 2000. The obverse doubling is concentrated in the final two digits of the date: the second 9 is doubled toward the lower right, while the third 9 is doubled toward the upper left — an opposing-direction pattern that distinguishes this entry from simple hub shift doubling. The reverse distributes doubling across three wreath areas: the middle leaves of the left wreath are doubled toward the rim, the lower leaves of the right wreath are slightly doubled, and the letters TED in UNITED show slight doubling as well. The 90% silver 1899-O Morgan Dollar was struck at the New Orleans Mint, which produced large quantities of Morgans through this period for regional circulation demands. In the 1899-O VAM catalog, VAM-35 occupies a specialist interest position for the conjunction of obverse date doubling with the more rarely documented reverse-wreath doubling. The opposing doubling directions on the 99 digits are the most reliable obverse attribute for initial identification before confirming the wreath doubling under reverse magnification.

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