1922-S VAM-1H2

Description

San Francisco Mint Peace Dollars from 1922 had the lowest mintage among the three facilities that year, making die varieties from this issue particularly noteworthy. VAM-1H2, discovered in 2010 and classified as II1 - B1a with an interest rating of I-2 and rarity of R-5, documents a triple clash that produced spikes on the eagle's shoulder along with beveled hair at the front of Liberty's portrait. The slightly beveled field at the hair front and the front of the ray resulted from die polishing performed to remove clash evidence, while vertical die file lines appear at the letters WE on the obverse. Triple clash varieties occur when a die pair strikes together without a planchet three times, each impact transferring design elements from the opposing die. The spikes on the eagle's shoulder represent transferred obverse elements that survived polishing, leaving permanent raised features on coins struck from this reverse die. The combination of clash evidence, die polishing artifacts, and file line markers creates a variety with multiple diagnostic features documenting the die's turbulent production history at the San Francisco facility.

External References