1881-O VAM-2

Description

Originally discovered by Ron Downing in March 1966 and revised in 2013, this New Orleans Mint 1881 Morgan Dollar is cataloged as VAM-2 (revised) with die pair III2 1 and reverse C3b. The defining characteristic is the repunched O mintmark, designated O/O Low, where the mintmark is tilted to the left with a curved line visible at the bottom inside from the underlying first punch. The reverse also exhibits doubled middle leaves in the wreath and overpolishing in the middle of the eagle's right wing. The obverse is a normal die classified as III2 1. Importantly, this is a distinct variety from VAM-2A — the obverse lacks the spike in the first 8 found on VAM-2A, shows different die crack patterns, and displays a clash without letter transfer. The VAM-2 obverse is not simply a polished version of the VAM-2A obverse; they are entirely different dies. Small sample studies indicate VAM-2 is not as common as its VAM-2A counterpart. The repunched O mintmark, where the New Orleans Mint hand-applied mintmarks to dies, creates the diagnostic overlap visible inside the O. ;Emission Sequence :Obverse: :Reverse: Comments: # This is actually a different obverse die from 1881-O VAM-2A.

External References