1882-S VAM-31A

Description

Discovered by Brent Fogelberg in 2013, the 1882-S VAM-31A Morgan Dollar features a doubled 882 in the date — a diagnostic visible as secondary impressions on the numerals eight, eight, and two. Cataloged as III2 21 paired with reverse C3a, this variety is distinguished from the base VAM-31 by a specific reverse die marker: a small die chip on the left wreath leaves opposite the letters NI in UNITED. An important note from the catalog records that on October 27, 2019, a specimen was found without the wreath die chip, confirming that the base VAM-31 without the chip does exist as a separate variety — a "2 for 1" discovery that validated both die states as distinct collectibles. The 1882-S Morgan Dollar was struck at the San Francisco Mint with a mintage of approximately 9.25 million pieces. San Francisco Morgan Dollars from the early 1880s are generally well-struck and available in mint state, though they lack the massive Treasury hoard survival rates of some contemporary New Orleans and Philadelphia issues. Date doubling on Morgan Dollars is a highly prized diagnostic because the date position on the obverse is one of the first areas collectors examine when attributing VAM varieties. The progression from die chip to no die chip illustrates how die state analysis enriches VAM collecting — the same obverse die paired with the same reverse die can produce visually distinct sub-varieties depending on when during the die's life a particular coin was struck.

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