1891 Morgan Dollar - VAM-1

Description

Baseline die marriage for the final Philadelphia Mint Morgan dollar production before the series' thirteen-year suspension, the 1891-P VAM-1 documents a normal die pairing classified as 1 III2 1 - C3a (Normal Die) with a page reference of 190. George T. Morgan's silver dollar had been in production for thirteen years by 1891, and the Philadelphia Mint struck approximately 8.69 million examples that year — the last regular Philadelphia Morgan dollar production until the emergency 1921 resumption mandated by the Pittman Act. The Obverse III2 1 designation identifies a normal die of the Type III2 portrait family, the standard obverse classification for later-date Morgan dollars, while the Reverse C3a specifies a normal die within the C3 reverse family. The "Normal Die" designation means this particular die marriage exhibits no doubled features, repunching, die cracks, gouges, or other variety characteristics — it serves as the reference standard against which all other 1891-P VAMs are compared. DPIS (Die Pair Identification System) data remains unlisted, and emission sequence information for both the obverse and reverse dies awaits documentation that would establish this die pair's chronological position within the 1891-P production run. The 1891-P was struck from silver bought under the Sherman Silver Purchase Act; Morgan dollars were coined every year through 1904, when that silver ran out, and again in 1921. Collectors holding a 1891-P Morgan dollar with no distinguishing variety features — standard date placement, normal mintmark absence, no die cracks, and normal die characteristics — can provisionally attribute it as VAM-1, though formal confirmation requires systematic exclusion of all other documented 1891-P die marriages through comparison of known diagnostics.

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