1878-P VAM-123
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Description
1878-P VAM-123 Doubled R and UM, Stars & Eye, Engraved Wing Feather Discovered December 1997 by Ron Derosier. This coin is a Hit List 40 Morgan VAM. This coin is a Top 30 1878 Variety '''123 ('''revised 2007''') II/I 40 - B2o (Doubled R & UM, Stars & Eye, Engraved Wing Feather) (194) ''' '''Obverse II/I 40-''' Slightly doubled LIBERTY shifted left. Doubled top and bottom left side and bottom right serif missing from R in PLURIBUS. Doubled bottom edge of top left serif of U and M in UNUM. Strongly doubled seventh left star and doubled 1-3 right stars. Left 8 doubled at top inside of upper loop and bottom left outside of lower loop. Right 8 slightly doubled at bottom outside of lower loop. Slightly doubled right inside of ear. Spike below eyelid front. Long polishing line in top of Phrygian cap and multiple polishing lines to right of designer's initial, M, and in hair below cap lower rear. '''Reverse B2o-''' Feather engraved with several vertical bars and fine lines on them between eagle's right wing and leg. Both wings over polished in middle with flat areas. Rough surfaces on parts of eagle and lower wreath. '''DPIS – In 1878 dates were part of the master die so there is no variation in position. ;Emission Sequence :Obverse: :Reverse: '''Comments: # One of the last 7 Tail Feather discoveries and considered by many to be ultra-rare. Trades for huge premiums in all grades, as is considered the Number One 7TF variety and the key coin for those attempting to build a complete set. In January 2007, an impaired XF coin was auctioned at [[http://www.vamquest.com/ VamQuest; the catalog description noted that possibly eight or nine are known to exist. In July, 2007 - a shocker - an [[http://coins.ha.com/itm/morgan-dollars/silver-and-related-dollars/1878-7tf-1-reverse-of-1878-ms63-deep-mirror-prooflike-ngc-ngc-census-3031-3484-pcgs-population-2666-2416-mintage-/a/443-8253.s NGC MS63 Deep Mirror Proof-like coin appeared unattributed in a Heritage auction, which was quickly bid up to record prices. The NGC coin has since been crossed to PCGS at MS63 DMPL. The obverse has a strongly doubled R and hard-to-see doubling on the first U, the N, and the M of UNUM on the upper left serif. Additionally, there is a large spike under the eyelid, and the 7th left star (the one closest to E PLURIBUS) exhibits strong doubling with a small shaft of extra metal veering away. The quickest way to attribute this coin is to look at the R and 7th star. The reverse has an odd crack through the denticles above 'ES OF'. The Heritage MS63 specimen's DMPL surfaces give credence to the theory that only a few coins were produced.