1924-P VAM-1BA

Description

Pitting covers the entire obverse die face of this 1924-P Peace dollar, transferring as raised dots and splotches across Liberty's head and the surrounding fields. Discovered in 2011 by BJV and cataloged as VAM-1BA (Pitted Obverse #8), this variety received the designation II1 - B2a with rarity ratings I-2 R-6, estimating fewer than 30 known specimens. The "#8" qualifier indicates this is the eighth distinct pitted obverse die documented for the 1924-P date, suggesting that storage conditions or environmental exposure at the Philadelphia Mint led to widespread corrosion issues across multiple die pairs that year. A critical die marker -- a faint horizontal line at the top inside of the letter O in GOD -- serves as the primary authentication point for separating VAM-1BA from the seven other pitted obverse varieties attributed for this date. Additional markers include a die scratch inside the top left of V in TRUST and faint die gouges at the top of the numeral 4 in the date, oriented at right angles. These secondary markers provide supplemental confirmation points that collectively distinguish VAM-1BA from its pitted-obverse siblings. Die pitting on Peace dollars results from rust or chemical corrosion attacking the die surface during periods when the die is not in active use, and the resulting texture transfers inversely to the struck coin: depressions in the die become raised features on the coin. Philadelphia struck 11.81 million Peace dollars in 1924, and the survival of eight documented pitted-obverse die varieties from this single date testifies to the environmental challenges of die storage at the facility during the mid-1920s. R-6 rarity places VAM-1BA among the scarcer Peace dollar varieties.

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