1898-P VAM-3

Description

Discovered by Leonard Hinckley in February 1974, the 1898-P VAM-3 "Near Date" Morgan dollar documents an obverse die where the date was positioned further left than normal — a characteristic that results from the hand-punching of date digits into individual working dies, a process that naturally produced variation in lateral placement. Cataloged as 3 III2 3 · C3a (Near Date) (190), this variety identifies a date placement closer to the bust truncation of George T. Morgan's Liberty portrait than the standard position seen on most 1898-P dies. Philadelphia struck approximately 5.88 million Morgan dollars in 1898, a relatively modest output that positions this date among the lower-mintage Philadelphia issues of the late 1890s. Leonard Hinckley's February 1974 discovery places this attribution among the earliest VAM identifications for the date, established during the formative period of the Van Allen-Mallis classification system. The Obverse III2 3 designation identifies a specific obverse hub type and die number, while the parenthetical (190) provides an additional die identification reference within the broader catalog structure. Date position varieties — near date, far date, high date, low date — constitute a significant category within the Morgan dollar VAM system because the manual punching process made each die's date placement unique. The "near" designation means the date sits measurably closer to Liberty's bust truncation compared to the standard spacing, an attribute visible under moderate magnification by direct comparison with normal-date examples. DPIS (Die Pair Identification System) and emission sequence data remain unrecorded for this variety, leaving its production chronology as an open research question. Collectors can identify this variety by measuring the gap between the date digits and the bust truncation.

External References