1921-S VAM-1AK

Description

Identified by Mark Kleiman in October 2006 and classified as IV 1 D2a (189), this 1921 San Francisco Mint Morgan Dollar is designated Over Polished Wing. The eagle's left wing on the reverse was over-polished during die preparation, resulting in some inner feathers missing entirely and outside middle feathers appearing shortened — evidence of aggressive polishing that removed design detail from the working die surface. Over-polishing varieties document die maintenance practices of the early twentieth-century Mint, where workers polished dies to extend service life or remove clash marks, sometimes removing design elements in the process. The 1921-S holds significance as a product of the final year of original Morgan Dollar production before the design's discontinuation in favor of the Peace Dollar later that year. The 1921 dates were incorporated into the master die rather than punched individually. The VAM-1AK designation with its high alphabetical suffix indicates one of many sub-varieties branching from the base VAM-1 die pair, reflecting intense scrutiny of this terminal-year issue. =1921-S VAM-1AK Over Polished Wing= Discovered by Mark Kleiman, October 2006.

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