1887-P VAM-9

Description

Discovered by George Mallis in July 1964 — one of the two founding fathers of the VAM classification system alongside Leroy Van Allen — the 1887-P VAM-9 "Doubled 18 Strong" Morgan dollar identifies strong doubling on the first two digits of the date. Cataloged as 9 III2 9 · C3a (Doubled 18 Strong) with obverse die number (189), this variety presents the 1 and 8 of 1887 strongly doubled across the bottom of each digit, creating clearly visible secondary images beneath the primary numerals. George T. Morgan's silver dollar design places the date at the lower rim of the obverse, where numeral punches were hand-driven into each working die individually — and where doubling from a second punch impression or hub misalignment is most readily apparent in the straight and curved strokes of the digits. Philadelphia struck approximately 20.29 million Morgan dollars in 1887, generating substantial die pair inventories. An important curatorial note in the catalog states that VAM-9 is a duplicate listing of the VAM-10 early die state — meaning these two catalog entries describe the same die, with VAM-9 documenting the die in its earlier production life and VAM-10 capturing a later state, though the current consensus treats them as effectively the same variety. This type of catalog overlap is not uncommon in the VAM system, which has accumulated entries over decades from multiple researchers who sometimes independently documented the same die at different stages. George Mallis's 1964 discovery came during the foundational era of Morgan dollar die variety research, well before the formal publication of the Van Allen-Mallis reference that would systematize the field. Collectors should examine the bottom portions of the 1 and 8 under 10x magnification, where the strong doubling produces secondary digit contours clearly visible without extreme magnification.

External References