1923-S VAM-1AT

Description

John Vernieri's April 2007 discovery brought this 1923-S Peace Dollar variety to the VAM catalog, documenting a small die break at the bottom of the front tiara band on Liberty's crown. Classified as 1AT II1 B2a (Die Break Tiara Band) with importance I-2 and rarity R-5, this variety preserves evidence of localized die failure at a high-relief design element. The tiara band on Anthony de Francisci's Liberty portrait is one of the most prominent features of the Peace Dollar obverse — a series of rays emanating from a crown atop Liberty's head — and the bottom of the front band represents a point of stress concentration where the deep relief meets the surrounding field. Die breaks at such locations occur when repeated striking fatigue causes the die metal to fracture at stress concentration points, and the resulting cavity in the die fills with metal during subsequent strikes, producing a raised, featureless bump on the coin. The 1923-S Peace Dollar was struck at the San Francisco Mint with a mintage of approximately 19.02 million coins — a relatively high production figure that nonetheless limits any individual die variety's population to the number of coins struck from that specific die pair. The R-5 rarity of 31 to 75 known specimens suggests this die operated for a moderate portion of the overall production run. The B2a reverse die pairing confirms the complete die marriage for attribution purposes. San Francisco Mint Peace Dollars from the mid-1920s are actively collected, and tiara band die breaks represent a distinctive sub-category within the broader VAM classification system.

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