1878 Morgan Dollar - Reverse of 1879 - VAM-211

Description

Discovered by Leroy Van Allen himself — co-creator of the VAM classification system alongside A. George Mallis — this 1878-P Morgan Dollar variety was identified in December 1965 and originally cataloged as VAM 210A before receiving its current VAM-211 designation. The diagnostic feature is a diagonal line through the R and extending to the top of T in LIBERTY, accompanied by a die chip between the left tail feathers. This obverse die is shared with VAM-194 and VAM-128, establishing a die linkage chain important for understanding 1878 die usage. Listed under the Reverse of 1879 parent, the reverse die type is identified by the position and angle of the tail feathers. Morgan Dollars are struck in 90% silver, and the 1878 Philadelphia issue represents the first year of the series — a date where master die characteristics were still being established. That the variety was discovered by Van Allen personally gives it a distinguished provenance within the catalog he co-founded. The line through LIBERTY serves as the primary attribution marker.

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