1926-S VAM-1B

Description

Discovered by David Close, VAM-1B documents a vertical die gouge positioned below the letter E in LIBERTY on the 1926-S Peace dollar obverse. Cataloged as II 1 - B2a with a rarity rating of R-6 (estimated 13 to 30 surviving pieces), this is among the scarcer varieties in the 1926-S Peace dollar census — the R-6 designation places it one step rarer than the R-5 level that characterizes most minor die varieties in the series. The I-2 interest level indicates moderate collector demand. San Francisco's 1926 Peace dollar production of 6.98 million coins provides the total population from which these scarce R-6 survivors derive, and the combination of a moderate base mintage with the R-6 rarity assessment suggests that this particular obverse die had a relatively short service life before being retired or replaced. Anthony de Francisci positioned the LIBERTY inscription along the upper obverse border above Liberty's radiant crown, and the letter E sits near the beginning of the word where vertical die anomalies in the field below are readily detectable against the clean area beneath the inscription. The vertical die gouge below E creates a linear impression that collectors can locate with a loupe of at least 7x magnification. David Close, a prominent Peace dollar VAM researcher whose discoveries appear throughout the 1920s date range, identified this variety as part of the systematic documentation effort that has produced dozens of cataloged die varieties for the 1926-S date.

External References