1923-S VAM-1AM

Description

Discovered by William Bland in September 2006, the 1923-S VAM-1AM carries die classification II 1·B2a under the title Polished Double Clash Spikes Eagle's Shoulder #2, rated I-2 R-6. The #2 designation places this variety within a numbered group of polished clash spike varieties for this date. On the reverse B2a die, rays to the right of the olive leaves were polished away, leaving missing portions of a ray at the right tip of the lower leaves. The third ray above ONE was also shortened through polishing — its tip no longer reaches the wing end. The resulting reverse shows clear evidence of Mint intervention to remove clash impressions by abrading the die surface. The 1923-S Peace Dollar was struck at San Francisco with a mintage of approximately 19.02 million coins. Despite that abundant figure, an R-6 rarity rating limits attributable examples to an estimated 20 to 75 known specimens — a genuine scarcity within a common date. VAM collecting for Peace Dollars uses the Van Allen–Mallis reference system, and the #2 group designation for polished clash spike reverses requires researchers to confirm the specific ray details documented for this variety before attribution is finalized.

External References