1884-P VAM-24

Description

Discovered in 2012 by Brent Fogelberg, VAM-24 for the 1884 Philadelphia Morgan Dollar combines a far date position with doubling at the bottom left outside of the left 8 digit. Classified as III2 22 with a C3a reverse — obverse die pair number 22 indicating extensive die marriage documentation for 1884-P — the far date means the date is positioned further right than the normal lateral placement, a diagnostic visible even without magnification by comparing the date's relationship to surrounding design elements. The slight doubling on the left 8 at its bottom left exterior adds a secondary attribution point. With twenty-four documented VAM varieties (and many sub-varieties), the 1884-P Morgan Dollar receives considerable attention from die marriage specialists. The 1884 date was struck during the height of the Bland-Allison Act period, when the Treasury was required to purchase two to four million dollars' worth of silver monthly and coin it into dollars. Philadelphia's 1884 production of approximately 14.1 million pieces contributed to the growing stockpile of silver dollars that would eventually fill Treasury vaults. George T. Morgan's Liberty Head design was in its seventh year of production, and the careful hand-punching of date digits into each die continued to produce the positional variations and doubled digits that form the backbone of VAM classification for this massively collected series.

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