1896-O VAM-9

Description

Discovered by Maurice Dubreuil in February 1975, VAM-9 for the 1896-O Morgan dollar pairs a Class III2 obverse die state 25 with a C3a reverse, yielding the descriptive title "Doubled 1 & Ear at Bottom." The obverse doubling manifests as a short curved bar at the top left of the digit 1 in the date and as a shallow dot at the left end of the 1's top crossbar, while Liberty's ear shows slight doubling along its bottom edge. The III2 25 classification places this within the doubled date subset of Morgan dollar obverses, where die hubbing misalignment displaced the date digits enough to create secondary impressions visible under magnification. The C3a reverse designation indicates the standard reverse die pairing for this marriage, and the (181) die point index number anchors VAM-9 in the emission sequence for the 1896-O date. The New Orleans Mint struck 4,900,000 Morgan dollars in 1896, one of the smaller O-mint outputs during the series' run, and the relatively modest production makes any cataloged VAM variety from this date inherently less common than those from higher-mintage years. George T. Morgan's Liberty Head obverse, featuring the Phrygian-capped profile based on Anna Willess Williams' likeness, concentrates its finest detail in the hair curls, ear, and cotton boll elements where doubled die impressions are most readily detected. VAM collectors pursuing the 1896-O date will find VAM-9's doubled 1 diagnostic a straightforward identification point, though the ear doubling requires higher magnification and favorable lighting to confirm.

External References