1935-S VAM-3

Description

Discovered by Olav Berghli in May 1939 — remarkably early in the history of die variety attribution — the 1935-S VAM-3 Peace Dollar is distinguished by an extra ray on the reverse, one of the most visually dramatic varieties in the Peace Dollar series. Cataloged as die pairing III 1 - Ca with an I-2 interest level and R-3 rarity, the reverse die designated Ca features a normal C-type reverse with a micro S mintmark, but adds a fourth ray below the lowest ray and a seventh ray below the eagle's tail feathers. The extra ray points directly at the mintmark, creating a distinctive diagnostic visible without magnification. No doubling is evident on the VAM-3 reverse, confirming that the extra rays result from a die preparation anomaly rather than a hubbing shift. The 1935-S is the final date and mintmark combination in the Peace Dollar series, which was struck from 1921 through 1928 and then briefly revived in 1934-1935. San Francisco produced 1.96 million Peace Dollars in 1935, making it the lower-mintage of the two mints that struck Peace Dollars that year. VAM-3's nearly nine decades of documentation history — from Berghli's 1939 discovery to the present — makes it one of the longest-known die varieties in the Peace Dollar canon, and the extra ray feature ensures it remains among the most popular varieties with collectors.

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