1878-P VAM-14.2
Error
Description
=1878-P VAM-14.2 8TF Polished Ear, Doubled Date, Tripled Left Stars= Discovered by Guy Messing, April 1973. Revision April 2003 by Mike Torgrimson. 14-2(revised) I14 · A1l (Polished Ear, Doubled Date, Tripled Left Stars) (181) Obverse I14– Doubled date with 1 doubled below upper crossbar, both 8's slightly doubled at top inside and lower left outside of upper loop and 7 slightly doubled below upper crossbar and doubled at top right of vertical shaft. All left stars slightly tripled to quadrupled towards rim. Die over polished with shallow stars, date, ear fill and hair lines to right of ear. ''Die markers–'' Thin die scratch line from middle of L in LIBERTY thru top of I up to bottom wheat leaf tip. Short triangular inner ear fill. Reverse A1l– All legend letters, stars, right wreath and lower left wreath doubled towards rim. One long and two short feathers added on eagle’s right and two on eagle’s left side between leg and bottom of wing. ''Die marker–'' Heavy vertical polishing scratch above extra feathers on eagle’s left wing. DPIS – In 1878 dates were part of the master die so there is no variation in position. ;Emission Sequence :Obverse: :Reverse: Comments: # The 1878-P VAM-14.2 8-Tail feather variety has the I²4 obverse & the A¹I reverse. It shares the same reverse as the ultra-rare VAMs 1878-P VAM-14.15 and 1878-P VAM-14.20 so it is important to be able to differentiate them between the more common VAM-14.2 attributions. # The EDS example of this coin does not have the cracks around the stars as some books show. The EDS has the crack starting from the wheat leaf headed towards the L & I (the "I" first) of liberty. It is also possible to have one which has a 193 reed count, whereas some books lead you to believe it only has a 181 reed count. # The 14.2 may also have heavy (much heavier than the pics on this page show) polishing lines in the same places as the 14.20. Because the three varieties share the same reverse, they also share attributions such as the same engraved feathers at the base of the eagle's left and right wings, a horizontal polishing line in the letter N of ONE, and a die scratch on the olive leaf adjacent to the eagle's right leg.