1897-O VAM-1A

Description

Discovered in 2019 by Gregory Chase, the 1897-O VAM-1A Morgan Dollar carries the classification III2 1 - C3a (Displaced Field Break TED) with die pairing number 181. The obverse (III2 1) exhibits a tiny die chip at the lower left of the L in LIBERTY, a feature that appears only in later die states and serves as a die state progression indicator. The reverse (C3a) presents the variety's defining characteristics: a type III O/P mintmark (New Orleans) set slightly high at the edge of normal position, accompanied by a die crack through the top of UNITED with a displaced field break at the letters TED — a displaced field break being a more advanced form of die crack where the metal adjacent to the crack has shifted slightly, producing a visible step or ridge along the crack line rather than a simple hairline fracture. The die marker for reverse identification is a tiny horizontal die scratch at the left inside of the eagle's wing-neck gap with a faint short line above, a precise diagnostic point positioned within the fine detail of the eagle's anatomy. George T. Morgan's design was struck at the New Orleans Mint in 1897 in 90% silver at 26.73 grams with a 38.1 mm diameter and a reeded edge. The 1897-O had a mintage of approximately 4.00 million pieces, making it one of the lower-mintage New Orleans Morgan Dollar dates. Gregory Chase's 2019 discovery of this variety demonstrates that new die marriages and die states continue to be identified in the Morgan Dollar series more than a century after the coins were struck, as collectors and researchers examine coins with increasingly refined attribution tools and knowledge. The displaced field break through UNITED is the primary visual feature that distinguishes this variety from normal 1897-O specimens.

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