1891-S VAM-2

Description

Sharing its obverse die with VAM-1E is the defining characteristic that elevates VAM-2 beyond a routine repunched mintmark variety on the 1891 San Francisco Morgan Dollar. Classified as 2 III2 1 C3b with the designation S/S Down, the reverse shows the S mintmark repunched with the original impression displaced downward — visible as an arc within the upper loop and doubling at the top inside and bottom outside of the lower loop. What makes this variety especially significant for die-marriage analysis is the confirmed use of the same obverse die for both VAM-1E and VAM-2, meaning these two catalog entries differ only in the reverse die paired with a shared obverse. This kind of die-sharing evidence reconstructs the Mint's die logistics: one obverse die was paired with at least two different reverse dies during its working life, each reverse carrying distinct characteristics that generated separate VAM designations. The 1891-S Morgan Dollar had a mintage of 5,296,000, making it a moderately scarce date in the series. The S/S Down repunching on the reverse reflects the hand-application process used at Philadelphia to add mintmarks before shipping dies to San Francisco.

External References