1898-S VAM-5

Description

Charles Wallace identified this die pair in February 1959, making VAM-5 one of the earlier documented varieties for the 1898-S Morgan Dollar. Cataloged as 5 III2 3 - C3d (Doubled 1) (188), the obverse shows a closed 9 with the numeral 1 doubled slightly just below the upper crossbar — a subtle shift that requires careful examination under magnification to confirm. The reverse carries the C3d designation, indicating a mint mark tilted slightly to the right relative to the normal S position. Die Pair Identification Sequence (DPIS) is recorded as LH3RE4. Struck at the San Francisco Mint during the Gilded Age, the 1898-S had a mintage of approximately 4.1 million pieces, a moderate production run that kept the date accessible to collectors while still representing significantly lower output than its Philadelphia counterpart. Morgan Dollar VAM collecting has become one of the most systematically organized subspecialties in numismatics, with the Van Allen-Mallis reference serving as the foundation for cataloging thousands of die pairs across the series. The doubled date digit on this variety exemplifies the kind of minor hub doubling that occurred when dies received multiple impressions during the hubbing process, with slight misalignment between strikes producing ghost images of design elements.

External References