1901-S VAM-4

Description

Discovered by Leonard Hinckley in February 1974, the 1901-S VAM-4 "High S" Morgan dollar documents a reverse die where the S mintmark sits noticeably higher than the standard position beneath the eagle's tail feathers. Cataloged as 4 III2 1 · C4b (High S), this variety reflects the hand-punching process that produced natural variation in mintmark placement across San Francisco Mint working dies. George T. Morgan's silver dollar was struck in limited quantities at San Francisco in 1901, with a mintage of only approximately 2.28 million coins — making the 1901-S one of the key semi-rare dates in the Morgan dollar series that commands significant premiums in all grades. Leonard Hinckley's February 1974 discovery places this attribution among the earlier VAM identifications for the date, established during the foundational period when Van Allen and Mallis were building the systematic catalog that now encompasses thousands of Morgan dollar die varieties. The Reverse C4b classification identifies a specific reverse die type with the high mintmark position as its distinguishing characteristic, while the Obverse III2 1 designation pairs this reverse with a standard obverse die configuration. Mintmark height variations on Morgan dollars result from the manual process of punching the letter into each working die — the engraver positioned a mintmark punch against the die surface and struck it with a hammer, and slight differences in vertical placement between dies created the high, normal, and low mintmark categories that form a significant portion of the VAM classification system. Emission sequence data for both obverse and reverse dies awaits further documentation, leaving the production chronology for this die pair as an open research question for future investigators.

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