1904-O VAM-23B

Description

Pat Mullen discovered the 1904-O VAM-23B Morgan Dollar in 2010, classified as 23B III25 – C4f (High O, Rust Patch BU, Clashed Obverse n) with die pairing number 189. This variety documents multiple simultaneous die anomalies across both faces. The obverse (III25) shows a clashed die with a partial lowercase n from the reverse's "In" (IN GOD WE TRUST) visible next to Liberty's neck — a transferred design element from a die clash event where the reverse die's lettering was impressed into the obverse die face. The catalog notes "No rotated die reverse" to distinguish this die pair from clash varieties where the reverse die was misaligned during the clash event. The reverse (C4f) features a high-set O mintmark and slight hub doubling on UNITED STATES OF and the tops of In God We Trust — the doubling on the reverse inscriptions indicating a separate manufacturing anomaly layered on top of the clash diagnostics. An intriguing community note records that VAM 13A was eliminated from the catalog and that this variety is known with a rotated die at 70 degrees counterclockwise — a dramatic die misalignment where the reverse was installed approximately one-fifth of a full turn from its normal orientation, producing coins with a visibly rotated reverse relative to the obverse. The Morgan Dollar was struck at the New Orleans Mint in 1904, the final year of the original Morgan Dollar production run before the series was suspended until 1921. Composed of 90% silver at 26.73 grams with a 38.1 mm diameter, the 1904-O had a mintage of approximately 3.7 million pieces. George T. Morgan's design was in its twenty-seventh year. The convergence of clash marks, hub doubling, and potential 70-degree rotation on a single die pair creates a multi-faceted variety with several independent diagnostic pathways for attribution.

External References