1904-P VAM-1B

Description

Discovered in 2016, this 1904 Philadelphia Mint Morgan Dollar is cataloged as 1B III2 - C3a (Die Gouges Eagle's Neck) with the reverse showing a short horizontal die gouge at the eagle's neck on the right side just below the jaw, accompanied by two faint thin die scratches on the opposite side of the neck edge. These die gouges represent physical damage to the reverse die surface — likely caused by accidental contact with a hard object during die handling or installation — that transferred as raised marks on every coin subsequently struck from that die. The location at the eagle's neck just below the jaw places the gouge in a detailed area of George T. Morgan's reverse design where the eagle's feathered neck meets the jaw line, making the raised mark visible against the surrounding plumage detail. The reverse designation C4a differs from the standard C3a type, indicating a distinct reverse die classification. The 1904 Philadelphia Mint Morgan Dollar had a mintage of approximately 2.79 million pieces, a relatively low P-mint figure that came near the end of the series' original production run — after 1904, no Morgan Dollars would be struck until the surprise 1921 revival mandated by the Pittman Act. The low mintage makes varieties on the 1904-P of particular interest, as fewer surviving coins mean each documented die pair accounts for a proportionally larger fraction of the total population.

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