1890-O VAM-3

Description

George Mallis first documented this variety in June 1965, establishing the 1890-O VAM-3 as one of the earlier New Orleans Mint Morgan Dollar VAMs to enter the catalog. Classified as III2 1 - C3c and listed at entry 181, its defining feature is the O mintmark set high and tilted slightly to the left. The tilted mintmark resulted from the mintmark punch being applied at a slight angle during die preparation, a common occurrence when hand-punching mintmarks into working dies at the New Orleans facility. The C3c reverse designation connects this variety to a shared reverse die classification also associated with 1890-O VAM-24 and 1890-O VAM-31, though importantly these are not the exact same physical die. This distinction matters for attribution purposes, as the C3c classification describes a die type with similar characteristics rather than a single die used across multiple obverse pairings. Collectors examining 1890-O Morgans should look for the high-set, leftward-tilted O to identify this early-catalog variety. =1890-O VAM-3 O Tilted Left= Discovered by George Mallis, June 1965.

External References