1894-O VAM-7

Description

Discovered by Guy Messing in July 1975, VAM-7 on the 1894 New Orleans Morgan Dollar features a doubled 1 at the top crossbar, accompanied by a mintmark tilted to the right. Messing's mid-1970s discovery places this variety among the foundational attributions in Morgan Dollar research, documented when Van Allen and Mallis were assembling their comprehensive catalog. The obverse die is shared with VAM-5, while the reverse die is shared with VAM-8 — a die-sharing relationship illustrating the Mint's practice of pairing surviving dies in new combinations as their partners wore out. Die sharing provides researchers with a web of connections between VAM numbers, allowing reconstruction of usage sequences. The doubled 1 shows displacement at the top of the crossbar, a subtle feature requiring magnification for confident identification. The tilted O mintmark was hand-punched into the reverse die at the specific angle visible on struck coins. The 1894-O Morgan Dollar was produced during the twilight years of the New Orleans Mint's involvement with the denomination, which ended in 1904. Messing's discovery established the attribution criteria that collectors continue to use.

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