1890-S VAM-11

Description

Originally discovered by Leroy Van Allen himself in November 1975, the 1890-S VAM-11 "Near Date" Morgan dollar carries the distinction of having been identified by one of the two founding researchers of the VAM classification system. Cataloged as III2 4 C3a, this variety's primary diagnostic is straightforward but important: the date is set further left than the standard position, placing the 1890 numerals closer to the rim and Liberty's portrait than on normal die pairings. The reverse employs a medium III O mintmark described as centered and upright — characteristic details that Van Allen and Mallis documented to help collectors distinguish between the many O-mintmark variants where hand-punched mintmarks tilted, shifted, or varied in size from die to die. San Francisco struck approximately 8.23 million Morgan dollars in 1890, a production run that generated sufficient die pairs to produce a meaningful variety catalog for the date. George T. Morgan's obverse design places the date at the base below Liberty's neck, where even modest variations in date punch positioning become catalogable when they fall consistently outside the normal range across a die's production life. The leftward date shift on VAM-11 indicates the engraver positioned the date punch closer to the rim than the standard location, and this positioning reproduced identically on every coin struck from the affected die. Van Allen's November 1975 discovery predates the publication of the first comprehensive VAM reference guide and demonstrates the systematic die-by-die examination methodology that would define the VAM system's approach to Morgan dollar classification. Collectors can identify this variety by carefully measuring the date position relative to the rim and Liberty's bust truncation, comparing against reference images at 10-15x magnification, and confirming the centered, upright, medium III O mintmark on the reverse.

External References