1883 (O) Morgan Dollar - VAM-25

Description

Discovered by Martin Field in June 1979, this 1883-O Morgan Dollar combines three distinct attributable features: a doubled 3 in the date where the bottom left inside of the lower loop shows slight secondary impression, an O mint mark positioned to the left of its normal location, and slight doubling of the lower arrow shaft and some arrow feathers below the olive branch on the reverse. The convergence of obverse date doubling, displaced mint mark, and reverse arrow doubling on a single die pair makes VAM-25 a variety with multiple independent diagnostic points — collectors can confirm attribution through any one of the three features and then verify through the others. Field's discovery in 1979 came during the golden age of VAM research, when the Van Allen-Mallis reference had recently energized systematic die study across the Morgan Dollar series. The 1883-O Morgan Dollar was struck at the New Orleans Mint during a period of massive silver dollar production mandated by the Bland-Allison Act, and the sheer volume of dies required to produce over eight million coins that year ensured a rich variety of die characteristics for researchers to catalog.

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