1926-S VAM-1Z

Description

Discovered in 2013 by David Close and rated I-2 R-5, this 1926-S Peace Dollar exhibits an over-polished gap to the left of Liberty's hair bun where aggressive die polishing removed enough metal to create a visible depression in the die face, producing a raised area on the struck coin where the bun should transition smoothly into the surrounding field. A beveled field at the hair edge below R in LIBERTY and below the chin documents additional zones where die workers ground down the surface contour. Perhaps the easiest die marker to locate is a die scratch within the second U of UNUM on the reverse — Close himself noted this feature as the quickest identification point for attributing the variety in hand. The 1926-S Peace Dollar carries particular interest among series specialists due to its relatively low mintage of approximately 6.98 million, one of the smaller San Francisco production runs in the Peace Dollar series. Over-polished varieties like VAM-1Z document the tension between die longevity and design fidelity that Mint workers navigated daily, where each polishing pass extended the die's service life at the cost of progressively altering the intended design.

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