1923-S VAM-1A

Description

Discovered by Terry Armstrong in June 1999, the 1923-S VAM-1A Peace Dollar features a dramatic vertical die break along the back of Liberty's neck on the obverse — a fracture so pronounced that it resembles an elongated letter B and appears at first glance to consist of two separate breaks. Classified as II-1 B2a in the Van Allen-Mallis system with an interest level of I-3 and rarity of R-6, this variety documents an advanced stage of die failure where a major structural crack has propagated through a high-stress zone of the obverse die. The neck area of Anthony de Francisci's Liberty head portrait is a region of significant relief change, where the design transitions from the detailed hair and neck to the flat field, creating stress concentrations that can serve as fracture initiation sites. When the die crack propagated vertically along the back of the neck, it created a void that filled with metal during striking, producing a raised line that follows the contour of the portrait's neck. The 1923-S Peace Dollar was struck at San Francisco with a mintage of approximately 19 million pieces, a substantial output that required numerous die pairs and pushed each through extended production runs. The R-6 rarity designation indicates that surviving specimens bearing this die break are genuinely scarce, suggesting the die was retired shortly after the fracture developed. VAM-1A captures a moment of die crisis — a structural failure dramatic enough to be visible without magnification, preserved in silver on one of the classic American dollar coin designs.

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