1898-P VAM-7

Description

Discovered by Martin Field in October 1978 and subsequently eliminated from the VAM catalog in December 2008, the 1898-P VAM-7 Doubled Date represents an interesting case study in die variety attribution — a variety that was once recognized but later delisted upon further analysis. Classified as III2 7 - C3a (Doubled Date) under catalog number 189, the obverse originally showed the 1 doubled at the top left and right lower crossbar, with the digits 889 all doubled at the bottom inside of both loops and top outside. The elimination may reflect revised standards for what constitutes a true doubled die versus machine doubling or die deterioration, a distinction that has been refined over the decades since Field's original discovery. The 1898-P Morgan Dollar was struck at the Philadelphia Mint during the Gilded Age, when silver dollar production was mandated under federal purchasing acts despite limited commercial demand. Philadelphia produced 5,884,735 Morgan Dollars in 1898, and the VAM cataloging effort by Van Allen and Mallis has documented dozens of die varieties for this date. Eliminated VAMs remain in the catalog with notation, preserving the historical record of attribution.

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