1889-CC VAM-1

Description

Base attribution for the 1889-CC Morgan Dollar, VAM-1 represents the "Normal Die, CC Centered" pairing with the full catalog notation "1 III2 1 - C3a (Normal Die; CC Centered)." The obverse is described as a normal die of the III2 type, and the reverse is a normal die of the C3 type with a large centered V CC mint mark. A parenthetical notation — "may not exist" — introduces a fascinating attribution question: this die combination may have been cataloged based on expected die pairings rather than confirmed physical specimens, a situation that occasionally arises in Morgan Dollar VAM research when die types are projected from the known inventory of obverse and reverse dies used at a given mint facility. The 1889-CC Morgan Dollar holds special significance as the penultimate Carson City issue, with the final CC Morgans struck in 1893. Carson City Mint production was characteristically low-volume, and the 1889-CC carries a mintage of only 350,000 — making any confirmed VAM variety from this date-mint combination inherently scarce. The III2 obverse die type and C3a reverse die type are classifications within the Van Allen-Mallis system that categorize dies by their design characteristics, hub type, and identifiable features. The "CC Centered" reverse notation describes the precise placement of the Carson City mint mark, which was hand-punched into each working die and thus varies in position and orientation across different die pairs. Emission sequence data for both the obverse and reverse remains to be documented, indicating that the chronological order of this die pair's use within the 1889-CC production has not been fully established.

External References