1890-P VAM-15

Description

Discovered by Leroy Van Allen himself in July 1978 — co-creator of the VAM classification system alongside A. George Mallis — the 1889-O VAM-15 carries the designation Doubled 88, Tripled 9, documenting multiple impressions on three of the four date digits. The 8's show slight doubling at their tops, while the 9 is tripled as a faint arc visible on top of the upper loop, indicating the date punch contacted the die at least three times with slight displacement on the final digit. Date doubling and tripling occurred during hand-punching when each digit was individually impressed into the working die, and imprecise alignment between successive blows left ghost images of earlier positions. A notation in the VAM reference observes that this variety appears to be the same as 1889-O VAM-14, suggesting the two entries may describe the same die — a question that remains open for researchers with access to both specimens. The 1889-O Morgan Dollar was struck at Philadelphia in the standard 90% silver, 10% copper composition. That the co-inventor of the classification system personally discovered this variety adds historical significance beyond its die diagnostics.

External References