1893-P VAM-2

Description

George Mallis first identified this doubled date variety on the 1893 Philadelphia Mint Morgan Dollar in July 1964, making it one of the earliest cataloged VAMs for this semi-key date. Classified as VAM-2 III2 2 - C3a (Doubled 3 Low), the obverse displays the numeral 3 in the date doubled at its top, with the doubling manifesting as a distinctive arc visible above the 3. The open style of the 3 further distinguishes this die pair from other 1893-P obverses. An additional diagnostic feature is Liberty's profile, which shows slight doubling from the hair down to the chin, providing a secondary confirmation point for attribution. The 1893-P Morgan Dollar carries a mintage of only 378,000 business strikes, the lowest regular-issue Philadelphia mintage in the entire Morgan series, making any die variety on this date inherently scarce. VAM varieties on Morgan Dollars are cataloged through the Van Allen-Mallis reference system, which has grown to encompass thousands of documented die marriages across all dates and mints from 1878 through 1921. The combination of a key-date host coin with a well-documented hub doubling variety makes the 1893-P VAM-2 a particularly desirable target for advanced Morgan Dollar variety collectors.

External References