1934-D VAM-1

Description

Discovered by Leroy Van Allen in December 1965 — one of the earliest documented attributions in what would become the Van Allen-Mallis system — the 1934-D VAM-1 establishes the baseline Normal Die pairing for this date and mint. As the foundational die marriage, VAM-1 represents the standard against which all other 1934-D varieties are compared: any deviation in date position, mintmark placement, or die damage is measured relative to this benchmark. Classified as I-1 R-2, the rarity reflects its role as the common baseline — R-2 indicates over 1,301 surviving examples. The Micro I D mintmark refers to the style of D used, with "Micro" indicating a smaller punch than the standard Large D found on some Denver issues. The 1934-D holds the distinction of being the last Denver Mint Peace Dollar — the final year Denver produced the denomination before production ended in 1935, with only Philadelphia and San Francisco striking that terminal date. De Francisci's design was in its fourteenth year, struck in 90% silver at 38.1mm and 26.73 grams. Use this pairing as the reference standard for identifying deviations on other 1934-D die varieties.

External References